Iran registers over 12,400 new COVID-19 cases, 453 deaths

TEHRAN, Iran

Iran confirmed 453 more coronavirus-related fatalities on Monday, raising the nationwide death toll to 25,255, according to the country's Health Ministry.

Some 12,460 more people tested positive for the virus over the past 24 hours, pushing the tally up to 866,821, ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said.

She added that a total of 610,406 patients have recovered so far, while 5,812 remain in critical condition.

Lari warned that all 31 provinces across the country have been classified as red zones with a high risk of coronavirus transmission.

Iran's Deputy Health Minister Reza Malekzadeh resigned Friday amid a spike in the number of novel coronavirus cases in the country, according to local media.

Malekzadeh accused Health Minister Saeed Namaki of mismanaging the pandemic and causing many casualties, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

Iran has been struggling to contain the pandemic since February, when the first cases were confirmed in the city of Qom.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara