Coronavirus Outbreak In Iran: Official Death Toll Surges To 194 With 6,566 Confirmed Cases

Iran reported 49 new coronavirus death over the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll in the country to 194.

"In the past 24 hours, we have had 49 people who have died from this illness so we have at least 194 deaths until now." Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in an televised address.

Jahanpour also added that out of the total 6,566 infection cases, 743 were diagnosed with the coronavirus in the past 24 hours. He also claimed that 2,134 patients infected by the coronavirus have so far recovered from the disease.

Fatemeh Rahbar, a conservative MP and new elected member of the country’s parliament from the capital Tehran, died from the novel coronavirus on Saturday. Last Tuesday, the speaker of parliament said that 23 MPs had tested positive for the virus. Mohammad Mirmohammadi, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was the first senior official to die from the virus on 2 March. Former deputy foreign minister Hossein Sheikholeslam, who took part in the 1979 US embassy hostage crisis, also died of the coronavirus on Friday.

Iran has closed schools and universities, suspended major cultural and sporting events and reduced working hours across the country to slow the contagion, which has spread to all of its 31 provinces.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed that the sanctions imposed against the country had “drained its resources needed in the fight against” the virus. He called it “medical terrorism.”

The total number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases worldwide has risen to 1,05,523 cases, with 3,584 people deaths so far , according to the World Health Organization’s latest update. The virus, officially known as COVID-19, has affected 101 countries, areas or territories with the majority cases – 80,859 – reported from China.