Tehran, July 2 (IANS) Iran reported 2,549 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the total confirmed novel coronavirus cases to 230,211, according to official IRNA news agency.

Sima Sadat Lari, the spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said during her daily update on Wednesday that 141 people died overnight, taking the total fatalities over the virus to 10,958, Xinhua news agency reported.

So far, 191,487 have recovered and 3,081 are in intense condition, said Lari.

According to the health spokeswoman, 1,693,242 lab tests for COVID-19 have been carried out in Iran as of Wednesday.

Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on February 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 three million masks to China.

In return, China has delivered several shipments of medical supplies to Iran. On February 29, a five-member Chinese medical team visited Iran for a month-long mission to help Iran fight the pandemic.

--IANS rt/