TEHRAN, March 20. /TASS/. The number of novel coronavirus cases in Iran has increased by 1,237 over the past 24 hours, the virus has claimed the lives of 149 people, adviser to the Iranian Minister of Health and Medical Education Alireza Vahabzadeh said on Friday.
"As many as 1,237 new coronavirus cases have been recorded in the country over the past 24 hours. The total number is 19,644," the Young Journalists’ Club news agency quotes him as saying. He added that a total of 1,433 people had died. According to previous reports, there were 18,407 coronavirus cases and 1,284 fatalities in the country.
The first coronavirus cases in Iran were confirmed on February 19 in Qom Province. All schools in the country are closed until the end of March, while many countries restricted communication with the Islamic Republic.
Iranian coronavirus cases include a number of high-ranking officials, namely, First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, Minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Ali Asghar Mounesan and Minister of Industry, Mines and Business Reza Rahmani. In addition, 23 members of the country’s parliament likewise tested positive for the coronavirus. Two of them - Fatema Rahbar and Mohammad Ali Ramazani Dastak - have died.
The current coronavirus illness was registered in central China at the end of December 2019. On March 11, the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic. COVID-19 infection cases have been recorded in more than 166 countries. According to the latest data, over 230,000 people have contracted the virus, more than 10,000 of them have died.
Source: TASS