People wearing face masks walk beside Chitgar Lake in Tehran, Iran, on Sept. 29, 2020. Iran announced on Wednesday 3,582 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of confirmed infections to 457,219. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)
TEHRAN, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran announced on Wednesday 3,582 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of confirmed infections to 457,219.
Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said at her daily briefing that out of the 3,582 new cases, 1,567 patients required hospitalization.
She also said that 183 deaths related to COVID-19 were registered between Tuesday and Wednesday, which takes the total death toll in Iran over the pandemic to 26,169 so far.
According to the spokeswoman, 380,956 people have as of Wednesday recovered and been discharged from hospitals, while 4,093 remain in critical condition in intensive care units.
So far, 4,014,821 laboratory tests for the novel coronavirus have been carried out in Iran, she added.
The risk of infection is high in 26 out of 31 Iranian provinces, and 4 other provinces are on alert over the spread of the disease.
Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19.
Iran and China have offered mutual help in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
In mid-February, at the early stage of the coronavirus 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 delivered several shipments of medical supplies to Iran. On Feb. 29, a five-member Chinese medical team visited Iran for a month-long mission to help Iran fight the pandemic. Enditem
