Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari put the death toll from COVID-19 in Iran at 26,746, saying the disease has taken the lives of 179 patients over the past 24 hours.

She said the total number of people tested positive for COVID-19 in the country has risen to 468,119 following the detection of 3,523 new cases since yesterday.

Of the new cases detected since Friday, 1,401 patients have been admitted to the hospital, she added.

At least 387,675 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across Iran, the spokeswoman said.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 4,127 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection, Lari noted.

She further said nearly 4,100,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

The number of people infected with COVID-19 across the world has surpassed 34.8 million and the death toll has exceeded 1,030,000.

Over the past six months, the Trump administration has prioritized politics over science at key moments, refusing to follow expert advice that might have contained the spread of the novel coronavirus and the disease, COVID-19, it causes. Trump and his people have routinely dismissed experts’ assessments of the gravity of the pandemic, and of the measures needed to bring it under control. They have tried to muzzle scientists who dispute the administration’s rosy spin.

Just last week, Trump described Dr. Robert Redfield, a virologist and head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as “confused” because he said a vaccine was not likely until late 2021. Trump, without evidence, said it could be ready before the election.

While there is no indication that Trump’s desperation for a vaccine has affected the science or safety of the process, his insistence that one would be ready before the election is stoking mistrust in the very breakthrough he hopes will help his reelection.

The Trump vs. science dynamic has been evident from the very beginning.

In late January, after the virus had first emerged in Wuhan, China, the CDC launched its emergency operations center. What was needed, epidemiologists said, was aggressive public education and contact tracing to identify and isolate the first cases before the disease spread got out of control.

Instead, Trump publicly played down the virus in those crucial first weeks, even though he privately acknowledged the seriousness of the threat.

“I wanted to always play it down,” the president told journalist Bob Woodward in March.

By mid-March, hospitals in New York and elsewhere were deluged with patients and storing bodies in refrigerated trucks.

On March 31, the nation was still grappling to understand the scope of the pandemic. Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stood next to the president to explain jaw-dropping death projections. The doctors said unless the country adopted masks, practiced distancing and kept businesses closed there would be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths.

They stressed that if the US adopted strict measures, the deaths could remain under 100,000.

“We would hope that we could keep it under that,” Trump said then.

Still, instead of issuing a national mask mandate, the Trump administration within weeks posted its “Opening up America Again” plan.

The CDC began developing a thick document of guidelines to help decision-making about reopening. But the White House thought the guidelines too strict. They “would never see the light of day,” CDC scientists were told. The AP would eventually release the 63-page document which offered science-based recommendations for workplaces, day care centers and restaurants.

The predictable happened: Cases surged after communities reopened, and hope for keeping the death toll under 100,000 vanished.

CDC recommendations continued to be routed through the White House task force for vetting before release.

Redfield has been criticized for not being a strong enough defender of the agency, and those who long worked at the CDC hope to see its leadership stand up for science in the face of politics.

“I’m sure this won’t be easy, but it’s essential to CDC’s reputation,” said Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, a 20-year CDC veteran and medical professor at the University of Florida. “We need a strong and trusted CDC to get ourselves through this pandemic — as well as through the next public health emergency after this one.”

Even as Fauci was restricted in his media interactions — his candor did not wear well with the administration — Trump elevated a new public face for his pandemic task force: Dr. Scott Atlas, a Stanford University neurologist with no infectious disease background.

In Atlas, Trump has a doctor who has downplayed the need for students to wear masks or social distance. Atlas has advocated for allowing the virus to run amok to create “herd immunity,” the idea that community-wide resistance can be built by infecting a large portion of the population. The World Health Organization has discredited the approach as dangerous.

White House officials say Atlas no longer supports it.

As Fauci said in August, there is “a fundamental anti-science feeling” at a time when some people are pushing back at authority.

At the same time, at least 60 state or local health leaders in 27 states have resigned, retired or been fired since April, according to a review by the AP and Kaiser Health News. Those numbers have doubled since June, when the AP and KHN first started tracking the departures. Many quit after political pressure from public officials, or even violent threats from people angry about mask mandates and closures.

The White House has realized there is a downside to publicly undermining science. Officials recognize voter concerns about speeding the vaccine production timetable as an emerging public health crisis too. They say they’re worried there will be unnecessary deaths and economic impact if Americans are afraid of getting vaccinated, according to two White House officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The administration has ordered a campaign to bolster public confidence in the development process. It would include elevating the profiles of Trump targets like the FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn and the CDC’s Redfield.

One person is not on board — Trump. Less than seven weeks from Election Day, he appears driven to say and do what he sees as necessary to secure a second term, whether backed by science and evidence or not.

And despite the grim death toll, the president continues to frame the past six months as a success.

Trump told a raucous Ohio crowd at a rally Monday: “We’re going to deliver a vaccine before the end of the year. But it could be a lot sooner than that.”

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari put the death toll from COVID-19 in Iran at 24,301, saying the disease has taken the lives of 183 patients over the past 24 hours.

She said the total number of people tested positive for COVID-19 in the country has risen to 422,140 following the detection of 3,097 new cases since yesterday.

Of the new cases detected since Saturday, 1,272 patients have been admitted to the hospital, she added.

At least 359,570 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across Iran, the spokeswoman said.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 3,898 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection, Lari noted.

She further said more than 3,746,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

The number of people infected with COVID-19 across the world has surpassed 31 million and the death toll is close to 962,000.

Speaking at a press conference on, Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari put the death toll from COVID-19 in Iran at 22,542, saying the disease has taken the lives of 132 patients over the past 24 hours.

She said the total number of people tested positive for COVID-19 in the country has risen to 391,112 following the detection of 2,302 new cases since yesterday.

Of the new cases detected since Monday, 1,226 patients have been admitted to the hospital, she added.

At least 337,414 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across Iran, the spokeswoman said.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 3,713 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection, Lari noted.

She further said more than 3,431,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

The number of people infected with COVID-19 across the world has surpassed 27.5 million and the death toll is close to 897,000.

During her daily press briefing, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari reported nealry 380,746 confirmed cases.

“With 128 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the death toll from the virus has reached 21,926. Unfortunately, we had 1,994 new cases since yesterday,” she said.

She also put the number of those who have so far recovered from the viral infection at 328,595.

The number of people infected with COVID-19 across the world has surpassed 26.2 million and the death toll has exceeded 868,000.

Speaking at a daily press conference on Tuesday, Sima Sadat Lari put the death toll from the novel coronavirus in Iran at 18,800, saying the disease has taken the lives of 184 patients over the past 24 hours.

She also noted that at least 288,620 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across the country.

The number of people tested positive for COVID-19 infection in Iran has risen to 331,189 following the detection of 2,345 new cases since Monday noon, the spokeswoman added.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 3,983 patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection, Lari noted.

She went on to say that more than 2,736,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

The number of people infected with COVID-19 across the world has surpassed 20.2 million and the death toll has exceeded 738,000.

“With 217 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the death toll from the virus has reached 14,405. Unfortunately, we had 2,414 new cases since yesterday,” Lari said on state TV.

She added that a total number of 276,202 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the country.

Lari also put the number of those who have so far recovered from the viral infection at 240,087.

She further said some 2,175,217 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

The coronavirus outbreak has infected over 14.6 million people around the world. The global death toll from the pandemic is now more than 609,515.

Speaking at a daily press conference on Tuesday, Health Ministry’s Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari put the death toll from COVID-19 in Iran at 11,931, saying the disease has taken the lives of 200 patients over the past 24 hours.

She said the total number of people tested positive for COVID-19 in the country has risen to 245,688 following the detection of 2,637 new cases since yesterday.

Of the new cases detected since Monday, 1,455 patients have been admitted to the hospital, she added.

At least 207,000 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across Iran, the spokeswoman said.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 3,270 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection, Lari noted.

She further said more than 1,846,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

The number of people infected with COVID-19 across the world has surpassed 11.7 million and the death toll has exceeded 541,000.

Speaking at a daily press conference on Thursday, Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said the number of deaths from COVID-19 in Iran have hit 11,106, saying the disease has taken the lives of 148 patients over the past 24 hours.

The number of people tested positive for COVID-19 across the country has risen to 232,863 after the detection of 2,652 new cases since yesterday, she added.

Of the new cases detected over the past 24 hours, 1,595 patients have been admitted to the hospital, she noted.

Among those undergoing treatment in medical centers at present, 3,097 coronavirus patients have critical health conditions because of more severe infection, Lari noted.

According to the spokeswoman, at least 194,098 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far and have been discharged from hospitals across Iran.

Lari also said that more than 1,719,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.

The number of people infected with COVID-19 across the world has exceeded 10.8 million and the death toll is nearing 520,000.