Some 50 members of Iran's 290-seat parliament have contracted COVID-19, a senior MP said on Saturday, according to CNN.

MP Alireza Salimi, who spoke to the YJC news agency, said this week's parliamentary session would be held in accordance with health regulations.

Iran has for months wrestled with the worst outbreak in the Middle East of COVID-19.

In a clear sign of the scale of the outbreak in Iran, dozens of top officials have fallen ill, including lawmakers who tested positive and some who have died.

High-profile deaths in Iran from the coronavirus include a member of the council advising the Ayatollah, a former ambassador, a newly-elected member of parliament, an adviser to Zarif and a re-elected member of parliament.

Iran's Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, tested positive for coronavirus in November.

The Islamic Republic has seen a surge in cases after a brief respite following mass vaccinations. In recent days it has reported an average of more than 30,000 new infections a day.

However, the Health Ministry said on Saturday that the number of cases over the previous 24 hours was 23,130.

Since the start of the pandemic, Iran has reported more than 6.5 million cases and more than 132,500 deaths from the virus.

As of December, Iran had vaccinated some 60% of its population of roughly 85 million people with two doses of coronavirus vaccines.

Iran generally uses the China-made Sinopharm vaccine, though the Russian Sputnik-V and the vaccine made by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca are also in use.

The Islamic Republic has also used its domestically produced COVIran Barekat vaccine, though there is no data on its safety or efficacy.