As Iran faces what looks like its worst wave of the coronavirus pandemic yet, Tehran commuters still pour into its subway system and buses each working day, even as images of the gasping ill are repeatedly shown on state television every night.

But in this nation of 84 million people, which faces crushing US sanctions, many struggle to earn enough to feed their families and with the growing uncertainty over when vaccines will be widely available in Iran, many have simply given up on social distancing, considering it an unaffordable luxury.

That has public health officials worried that the worst of the pandemic may still be yet to come. Iran is now reporting its highest-ever new coronavirus case numbers — more than 25,000 a day — while its daily death toll has surged to around 400, still below the grim record of 486 it reached in November.

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