Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that halting Covid-19 is an “urgent” priority and called for more vaccine imports and production, after record deaths and infections.

The Islamic republic's Covid cases and fatalities have surged in recent weeks, in what officials have said is a “fifth wave” caused by the highly infectious Delta variant.

“Today, the issue of the coronavirus disease is the country's primary and urgent issue,” Khamenei said in a televised address focused on the health crisis.

Khamenei said the record number of casualties was “truly painful”, and demanded greater efforts to boost vaccine “imports and domestic production”, according to an AFP report.