TEHRAN - Travellers arriving from 12 countries are banned from entry into Iran for 15 days over the fear of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, Iran's semi-official news agency ISNA reported.

The ban, already effective on Saturday, covers eight African countries of Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Eswatini, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Malawi and South Africa, and four European countries of Britain, France, Norway and Denmark, according to Iran's Interior Ministry.

For travellers arriving from other countries, the ministry has mandated the submission of a vaccination certificate and a negative PCR test before entering Iran.

Iran's Health Ministry on Sunday reported 1,857 new COVID-19 cases, raising the country's total infections to 6,184,762.

The pandemic also claimed 52 lives in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 131,400.

A total of 6,026,378 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 2,774 remained in intensive care units, said the ministry.

On Dec. 19, Iran reported its first Omicron case in a traveller who returned from the United Arab Emirates.