Iran on Wednesday confirmed 56 additional fatalities from coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 7,564.
A further 2,080 people have tested positive for COVID-19, raising the overall count to 141,591, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.
He added that 111,176 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far, while 2,551 patients remain in critical condition.
In Iran, one of the countries in the Middle East hardest-hit by the disease, COVID-19 was first detected in the city of Qom on Feb. 19 and then spread throughout the country.
The pandemic has claimed more than 350,900 lives in 188 countries and regions since originating in China last December. The US and Europe are currently the world’s worst-hit regions.
More than 5.6 million cases have been reported worldwide. As many as 2.3 million people have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.
Writing by Mahmoud Barakat