TEHRAN

Iran on Monday confirmed 119 additional fatalities from the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 9,742.

A further 2,573 people tested positive for COVID-19, raising the overall count to 207,525, Health Ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari said.

He said a total of 166,428 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far, adding that 2,898 remain at hospitals in critical condition.

Over 1.44 million tests have been conducted in the country to date, Lari said.

Iran sees an upward trend in daily infections in many provinces, especially in the southwestern Khuzestan province.

After emerging last December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the virus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.

There are more than 8.96 million confirmed infections globally and an excess of 468,500 deaths, with over 4.44 million recoveries.