Iran reports 135 new coronavirus deaths, total increases to 988

Iran on March 17 reported 135 deaths from the novel coronavirus taking the total death toll in the country to 988. According to Kianoush Jahanpour, a Health Ministry spokesman, who confirmed the report on a live televised program, the recent death toll represented a rapid rise in deaths from the day before. Iran is the second most affected country after Italy, where at least 16,000 people have been infected by the deadly virus so far.

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As per reports, a recently elected Member of Parliament in Iran died of the disease on March 7. Fatemeh Rahbar, 55, was a conservative MP from the capital Tehran and was one of the seven politicians to died from the virus. 23 other members of parliament in the country had tested positive for the virus. Mohammad Mirmohammadi, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was the first senior official to die from the virus on March 2.

Iran has been criticised for its handling of the virus outbreak for which it blames the United States. According to media reports, Iran is suffering from a lack of resources because of the ongoing economic sanctions imposed by the United States. Iran had earlier requested the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan to tackle the outbreak in the country.

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Coronavirus outbreak

The novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has claimed more than 7,400 lives across the globe and has infected over 1,87,000 people around the world since it first broke out in December 2019. China is the most affected country in the world as experts believe that the virus originated from a seafood market in Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were being traded illegally as per reports. According to the latest reports, at least 900 people have died outside mainland China, which makes it the worst disease outbreak of the 21st century. 

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