Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi wipes the sweat off his face, during a press conference with the Islamic republic's government spokesman Ali Rabiei in the capital Tehran on February 24, 2020. - Iran's deputy health minister confirmed on February 25, that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, amid a major outbreak in the Islamic republic. Harirchi coughed occasionally and appeared to be sweating during the press conference with Rabiei in Tehran. (Photo by MEHDI BOLOURIAN / FARS NEWS / AFP)

Iran on Sunday said that 123 more people had died of the novel coronavirus, raising the country’s official death toll to 2,640.

A staff member of the health authorities of the southern federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg demonstrates on a negative sample the test for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, in a laboratory in Stuttgart, southern Germany, on March 2, 2020. (Photo:  AFP)
A health ministry spokesman told a news conference that 2,901 more cases had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing total infections to 38,309.

“Fortunately 12,391 of those who had been hospitalised have now recovered and returned to their families,” he added, while 3,467 were in a “critical” condition.

AFP