TEHRAN

Iran on Tuesday confirmed 179 more fatalities from the novel coronavirus, bringing the nationwide death toll to 13,202.

A further 2,521 people tested positive for COVID-19, raising the overall count to 262,173, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said.

She added that a total of 225,270 people have so far recovered and been discharged from hospitals, adding that 3,389 patients remain in critical condition.

Iran’s Khuzestan, Razavi Khorasan, West Azerbaijan, and Mazandaran provinces are in the red zone with high risk of coronavirus. The capital Tehran, Fars, Kerman, Alborz, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Golestan, Bushehr, Hormozgan, and East Azerbaijan provinces are among the high-risk regions.

Since originating in China last December, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed almost 573000 lives in 188 countries and regions.

Nearly 13.1 million cases have been reported worldwide, while over 7.3 million patients have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

*Writing by Ali Abo Rezeg