Tehran, June 22 (IANS) Iran's confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 207,525 on Monday after an overnight registration of 2,573 new infections, the media reported.

At a daily briefing, Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said out of the new cases, 1,319 have been hospitalised, Xinhua reported citing the official IRNA news agency.

The pandemic has so far claimed the lives of 9,742 Iranians, up by 119 in the past 24 hours.

Besides, 166,427 have recovered and been discharged from hospitals while 2,898 remain in critical condition.

According to Lari, 1,449,420 lab tests for Covid-19 have been carried out in Iran as of Monday.

She said that the provinces of Khuzestan, East Azarbaijan, Hormozgan and Kermanshah are in high-risk condition over the disease.

The Iranian health officials have urged people to honour social distancing instructions, regardless of age categories, and to wear face masks in public places.

Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on February 19.


--IANS pgh/