26 people killed by Coronavirus in Iran, Vice President tested positive
Tehran : 26 people have lost their lives in Iran because of coronavirus, the health ministry announced Thursday. It also mentioned that a vice president has also been tested positive to the virus.
Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told a news conference that the tally of infections had risen to 245 with 106 more cases confirmed - the highest number for a single day since Iran announced its first infections on February 19.
Outside China, the Islamic Republic has the highest number of deaths.
The latest name of the coronavirus sufferers is one of Iran's seven vice presidents, Massoumeh Ebtekar, who oversees women's affairs.
Ebtekar, a former spokeswoman for students who took 52 Americans hostage at the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, is being treated at home and members of her team have been tested, state news agency IRNA reported.
According to media reports, among the deceased in Qom on Thursday was theologian Hadi Khroroshahi, who in 1981 was named Iran's first ambassador to the Vatican.
