An outbreak of novel coronavirus has affected almost all of Iran's provinces, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday (Mar 4), according to the official presidency website."This disease is a widespread disease," he said during a cabinet meeting. "It has reached almost all our provinces and in one sense it's a global disease."

Iran's health ministry on Tuesday announced 92 people had died from coronavirus, one of the highest death tolls outside China where the outbreak originated. It said 2,922 people had been infected with coronavirus.Several Iranian officials have been infected with coronavirus since the outbreak was first announced two weeks ago and one senior official died on Monday.

Iran now has 2,336 reported cases, more than any country other than China and South Korea, and 11 more people have died, according to figures cited by the deputy health minister, Alireza Raisi, on state TV. State news media reported on Tuesday that Ahmad Toysarkani, an adviser to the judiciary, was among those who had died. The virus has been felt at the highest levels of Iranian society, with Masoumeh Ebtekar, the president’s deputy for women’s affairs and the highest-ranking woman in the government, among those who have become infected.

Story Source Reuters/ga