TEHRAN

Iran on Sunday confirmed 107 more fatalities from the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 8,837.

A further 2,472 people tested positive for COVID-19, raising the overall count to 187,427, Health Ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari said.

A total of 148,674 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far, he said.

Some 1.244 million tests have been done in the country to date, Lari said.

Iran's daily number of COVID-19 cases dropped to around 800 in early May, but since authorities eased restrictions, daily figures have shown an upward trend, especially in the southwestern Khuzestan province.

Despite the rising number of infections, government employees have resumed work, and mosques reopened across the Middle Eastern country.

Since originating in China last December, the pandemic has claimed over 430,000 lives in 188 countries and regions. The US, Brazil and Russia are currently the world’s worst-hit countries.

Some 7.8 million cases have been reported worldwide, while some 3.71 million patients have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat