Iran’s death toll over COVID-19 tops 24,000

Kathmandu: The novel coronavirus pandemic has claimed 24,118 lives in Iran as of Saturday, up by 166 new death cases overnight, Iran’s health ministry said.

Iran’s confirmed cases of the disease rose to 419,043 on Saturday, with registered 2,845 new patients in the past 24 hours, Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education, during her daily briefing.

Since Friday, 1,149 Iranians were hospitalized for complications from the novel coronavirus, said Lari.

So far, 357,632 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals while 3,893 remain in intensive care units.
She said 28 Iranian provinces, out of 31, are still in high-risk or on alert condition.

Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19.

Iran and China have offered mutual help in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

In mid-February, at the early stage of the coronavirus outbreak in China, Iran lit up the Tehran Azadi (Liberty) Tower to show its solidarity with China, and donated 3 million masks to China.

In return, China delivered several shipments of medical supplies to Iran. On Feb. 29, a five-member Chinese medical team visited Iran for a month-long mission to help Iran fight the pandemic.