TEHRAN, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Thursday crossed another major threshold as its total number of COVID-19 cases surpassed 180,000, after 2,238 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours.
The tally of novel coronavirus cases in Iran climbed to 180,156, while the death toll rose to 8,584 after 78 more deaths were added, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education during her daily update.
So far, 142,663 patients have recovered from the infectious respiratory disease, and 2,728 others remain in critical condition, said Lari.
Iran, which announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19, is the hardest-hit country by the coronavirus in the Middle East.
Iran and China have supported each other in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
In mid-February, at the early stage of the virus outbreak in China, Iran lit up the Tehran Azadi (Liberty) Tower to show its solidarity with China and donated 3 million masks to China.
In return, China has delivered several shipments of medical supplies to Iran to help its anti-coronavirus fight. On Feb. 29, a five-member Chinese medical team visited Iran for a month-long mission to help Iran fight the pandemic. Enditem
