Iran reports 10 new coronavirus cases, one dead

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Reuters
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AFP
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DUBAI: Ten new cases of coronavirus have been detected in Iran, one of whom has died, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV on Saturday.

The new numbers announced by the health ministry bring the total number of cases of the new coronavirus in the country to 28, with five of the total having died.

On Friday, two people died of coronavirus, while 13 new cases have surfaced in Iran, Jahanpur confirmed.

The COVID-19 outbreak first appeared in Iran on Wednesday, when officials said it killed two elderly people in the holy city of Qom.

They were the first confirmed deaths from the disease in the Middle East.

"Thirteen new cases have been confirmed," Iran's health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said. "Unfortunately two of them have lost their lives."

The newly reported cases included "seven in Qom, four in Tehran, and two in Gilan" on the Caspian Sea coast, Jahanpour tweeted.

"Most of the cases are still either Qom residents" or were people who had come from Qom to other provinces "in recent days and weeks", he added.

He did not comment on the suspected origins of the outbreak in the Islamic republic.

He added that Iran had so far received from the World Health Organisation four shipments of medical kits used to detect COVID-19.

Qom is a centre for Islamic studies and tourists, attracting scholars from Iran and beyond.

However, a government official said the first two people who died of the disease had not left Iran.