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At least 23 Iranian legislators and the head of the country’s emergency medical service have tested positive for the coronavirus, in the latest spike in cases in the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s deputy speaker, Abdul Reza Misri, confirmed on Tuesday that out of the 290 MPs, 23 MPs had caught the flue-like virus.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the armed forces to assist health officials in combating the outbreak, which authorities say has killed 77 people, the highest death toll outside China.
“Whatever helps public health and prevents the spread of the disease is good and what helps to spread it is sin,” he said.
The Islamic Republic is one of three hot-spots outside China causing concern that the COVID-19 could be becoming a pandemic.
China and Iran have strong trading links.
The other countries currently in the spotlight are South Korea and Italy, where cases have surged in past few days.
In South Korea, where the president Moon Jae-in has declared "war" on Coronavirus, some 516 new cases were announced on Wednesday, bringing the total to 5,328.
“The entire country has entered war against the infectious disease as the crisis in Daegu and Gyeongbuk province has reached the highest point,” he said.
In Italy, Washing Post reported that as of Tuesday evening, 2,263 people had tested positive. Of those, 1,263 were hospitalised. Seventy-nine people had died.
Globally, about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases had died.
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists the manner in which the virus was spreading was "unique".
"To summarise, COVID-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick, it causes more severe illness than flu, there are not yet any vaccines or therapeutics, and it can be contained," Tedros said.
More than 92,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide and the number of deaths from the virus has reached 3,110 globally, according to the WHO.
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