Getty Images Tehran is seeing the fastest rise in new infections

Iran appeared to be heading towards a "third wave" of coronavirus infections on Friday, as a senior health official declared a red alert across the whole country.

The health ministry said that new daily cases had risen by 3,049 to 416,198 and the death toll was up by 144 to 23,952.

Deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi said on TV that the system of dividing regions into white, orange/yellow and red categories based on the number of cases and deaths "doesn't make sense any more", adding: "We no longer have orange and yellow. The entire country is red."

"If the current course continues the death toll will reach 45,000," he warned, without saying when that might happen.

Earlier this week, Alireza Zali, who heads the national headquarters for coronavirus control, warned that the country was heading towards a "third wave" of the outbreak, and that the capital Tehran would be hit first.

Iran saw one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the early stages of the pandemic and suffered a second peak at the start of June.