ANKARA

Brig. Gen. Nasser Shabani, a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps died from the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, according to the semi-official Fars news agency on Friday.

Shabani began his career in 1982 during the Iran-Iraq War.

Besides China, Italy and South Korea, Iran is among the worst-affected countries since the outbreak of the disease last December.

The death toll from the virus in Iran rose to 514, state television reported Friday.

Authorities said 85 people died in the last 24 hours, while 1,289 new cases emerged, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 11,364, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour was quoted.

After emerging in China, the novel virus has spread to 123 countries and territories.

The global death nears 5,000, with more than 132,500 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization that declared the outbreak a global pandemic.

*Writing by Davut Demircan