TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s Health Ministry urged people to avoid unnecessary trips and seriously observe health protocols as the novel coronavirus is still claiming a high number of Iranian lives.

Speaking at a daily press conference on Wednesday, the ministry’s spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said the provinces of Khuzestan, Hormuzgan, Bushehr, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Ilam, West, and East Azarbaijan, and Khorasan Razavi are classified as “red”, the highest category in the country’s virus risk ranking, according to IRNA.

She added that the provinces of Tehran, Isfahan, Mazandaran, Golestan, Alborz, Kerman, Yazd, Sistan and Baluchestan, Hamedan, and Ardebil are in an alarming state.

Iran announced 200 more deaths from the coronavirus on Tuesday, the most in a single day since the outbreak began in the country in February.

On Wednesday, the death toll exceeded 12,000, with 153 deaths were recorded from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The total number of infections has also reached 248,379, following the detection of 2,691 new cases, Lari said.

Of the new cases detected since Tuesday, 1,625 patients have been admitted to the hospital.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 3,309 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection, she noted.

Lari further put the death toll from COVID-19 in Iran at 12,084.

At least 209,463 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far and have been discharged from hospitals across Iran, the spokeswoman said.

Lari also noted that more than 1,872,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

Official figures have shown a rising trajectory in deaths and new confirmed cases since Iran reported a near two month low in daily recorded infections in early May after mass lockdowns were imposed in the country. But since then, numbers have spiked again, with Tehran officials saying a combination of improved testing and reopenings had driven the surge.

The uptick has prompted the government to make it mandatory to wear masks in enclosed public spaces.

President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday launched new measures to try to curb the renewed spread. Iranians who do not wear masks will be denied state services and workplaces that fail to comply with health protocols will be shut for a week, he said.