Coronavirus: Death toll in Iran rises to 145

The death toll in Iran from the coronavirus has climbed to 145, the country's Health Ministry announced on Saturday.

As many as 21 more people died of the COVID-19 disease as 1,076 new cases were reported across the country in the last 24 hours, spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told a news conference in the capital Tehran.

The latest figure brought the total number of infections to 5,823, said Jahanpour.

Most of the new cases, he added, were in the provinces of Tehran, Qom, Gilan, Isfahan, Alborz, Markazi, and Qazvin.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian lawmaker Fatemeh Rahbar died from the virus.

Rahber, a member of the Islamic Coalition Party, was hospitalized and taken to intensive care on Thursday, where she died.

She was one of many public officials fighting the virus, including including a vice president, dozes of other members of parliament, and the deputy health minister.

Turkey – where there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus – last month closed its land borders and suspended air travel to Iran.

Besides Italy and South Korea, Iran is the worst-affected country since the outbreak of the disease in China last December.

As part of its efforts to contain the virus, Tehran has taken several measures, including the closure of all schools and institutions of higher education, calling off sports events nationwide, as well as banning government officials from leaving the country.

First detected in Wuhan, China last December, the virus has since spread to more than 80 countries.

The global death toll is nearing 3,500, with around 100,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

As part of efforts to contain the outbreak, governments have closed borders and suspended land and air travel with the hardest-hit countries such as China, Iran, and Italy.

After declaring the outbreak an international health emergency, the WHO later upgraded the global risk level to “very high.”