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HEALTH-VIRUS-IRAN
Iran virus deaths top 30,000: ministry
TEHRAN, Oct 17, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The death toll in Iran from the coronavirus pandemic has crossed the 30,000 mark, the health ministry announced Saturday.
“Unfortunately, we have lost 253 of our fellow citizens to Covid-19 over the past 24 hours,” ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told a daily briefing.
The latest deaths raised the overall toll to 30,123 for the eight months since Iran reported its first fatalities from the novel coronavirus.
Tehran and four other major cities have been largely sealed off since Wednesday and most public places in the capital, a city of some nine million people, closed since October 3.
Iran recorded 4,103 new cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the total caseload so far to 526,490, the ministry spokeswoman added.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1835 hrs