Iran's coronavirus death toll tops 10,000

By Muhammet Kursun

TEHRAN (AA) – Iran on Thursday confirmed 143 additional fatalities from the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 10,130.

A further 2,595 people tested positive for COVID-19, raising the overall count to 215,096, Health Ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari said.

He said a total of 175,103 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far, adding that 2,899 remain at hospitals in critical condition.

Over 1.53 million tests have been conducted in the country to date, Lari said.

After emerging in China last December, the virus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.

The pandemic has killed more than 483,000 people worldwide, with an excess of 9.45 million confirmed cases and greater than 4.76 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.