Iranian lawmaker dies from coronavirus

ANKARA

An Iranian lawmaker has died of the novel coronavirus, local media reported on Saturday.

Fatemeh Rahbar, a member of the Islamic Coalition Party, had been in intensive care since Thursday, according to the semiofficial Tesnim Agency.

Iranian authorities have confirmed 4,747 cases across the country – including a vice president, 23 members of parliament, and the deputy health minister – and 124 people have died due to the virus.

Iranian officials are currently barred from traveling abroad, and the country’s parliament has been suspended indefinitely.

First detected in Wuhan, China last December, the virus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to more than 80 countries.

The global death toll is nearing 3,500, with around 100,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

As part of efforts to contain the outbreak, governments have closed borders and suspended land and air travel with the hardest-hit countries such as China, Iran, and Italy.

After declaring the outbreak an international health emergency, the WHO later upgraded the global risk level to “very high.”