Health Ministry confirms 1,485 new COVID-19 cases across country

According to the ministry’s spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour, the total of infections in the country has hit 103,130.

68 patients, he continued, have lost their lives in the past day, bringing the total death toll to 6,486.

The health ministry spokesman said that 2,728 patients are in critical condition and of those infected, 82,744 have gained recovery.

So far, 544,702 tests have been taken across the country to detect infected cases, he added.

The confirmed cases have experienced a surge in the past week. The country was seeing three-digit cases for some days before going back to more than 1,000 on a daily basis. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that the rise in the number may be good news. Speaking during an inauguration ceremony, Rouhani said that the rise may be due to the increase in the number of labs and test kits, noting that most of the newly-diagnosed cases do not need hospitalization. He also called on people to continue following health guidelines. 

The global death toll from coronavirus has passed 265,000 with over 3.8 million known cases of infection and more than 1.2 recoveries, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.

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