TEHRAN, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iran announced on Saturday 6,421 new COVID-19 infections confirmed in the past 24 hours, raising the overall count of cases in the country to 1,152,072, official news agency IRNA reported.
Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said at her daily briefing that 175 deaths related to the epidemic were registered between Friday and Saturday.
This is the first time Iran has reported a figure of daily casualties of COVID-19 under 200 since Oct. 10, when 195 people were officially declared deceased to the pandemic.
Adding the new victims, the coronavirus epidemic has so far claimed 53,448 lives in Iran, Sadat Lari noted.
Of the newly infected in the past 24 hours, she further said, 822 required hospitalization.
As of Saturday, 875,943 COVID-19 patients have recovered or been released from Iranian hospitals, while 5,591 others are currently in critical condition.
The number of laboratory tests carried out in Iran for COVID-19 has now reached 6,995,726, according to the spokeswoman.
On Saturday morning, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announced in a meeting of the Iranian National Headquarters for Combating the Coronavirus that the number of counties on red alert for a high risk of infection is now zero, after a month of enhanced restrictions.
There were 160 cities or counties on red alert one month ago, official news agency IRNA reported.
Iranian authorities have declared new hourly traffic restrictions for Saturday and Sunday in many cities, in an attempt to limit the public health impact on Sunday of Yalda Night festival, when Iranian families traditionally gather for a special dinner in the longest night of the year.
Government officials and TV celebrities have also repeatedly made calls for Iranians to contact family members through online media this year, instead of physically gathering inside their homes.
Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19. Enditem
