Iran reports over 2,000 new COVID-19 cases

The number of new COVID-19 cases grew by 2,346 as of May 20, pushing the tally to 126,949, according to the Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour.

As many as 64 people died of the infection over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 7,183.

According to the ministry official, 2,673 patients are in critical condition. So far, a total of 98,808 recovered from the disease in the country. 

In Iran, one of the countries in the Middle East hardest hit by the virus first detected COVID-19 in the city of Qom on February 19, which spread throughout the country.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged in late 2019 in China’s Hubei province, and the virus has spread to 212 countries and territories since then.

To date, COVID-19 cases surpassed 5,000,000 globally, resulting in more than 1,970,000 recoveries and over 325,000 deaths.

On February 11, the WHO officially named the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) as COVID-19, and on March 11, declared it a pandemic.