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As reported by IRIB, the meeting was attended by the representatives of the country’s major health products manufacturers as well as senior officials including the government’s spokesman Ali Rabiei.

Exploring the necessary measures which should be taken by the government and the industry ministry for countering the spread of coronavirus and supervising the production and supply of health and hygiene products were the major issues discussed in the meeting.

Earlier on Monday, Rabiei condemned any move to politicize outbreak of the coronavirus, calling on political groups, parties and media outlets to refrain from accusing baselessly the country’s Health Ministry officials.

Rabiei, Iran’s government Speakman, pointed out that the outbreak of coronavirus is a health issue and “we must trust the physicians.”

Coronavirus, known officially known as COVID-19, appeared first in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December and has since spread globally. The World Health Organization has declared it a global health emergency.

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Other sports events have taken similar measures as confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose to 95 in Iran, with 15 deaths.

Football matches in the Iran Professional League were held behind closed doors earlier this week.

Authorities in Iran have previously called off all major sports events except for football matches for a ten-day period, in response to the spread of the virus in the country.

Earlier, Esteghlal hosted Zob Ahan in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in the Iran Professional League (IPL) on Sunday.

Local media reported that the match between Sepahan and Persepolis will also be held at an empty stadium in Isfahan but it has not been confirmed yet.

The COVID-19 outbreak in Iran first surfaced on Wednesday, when authorities said it claimed the lives of two elderly people in Qom.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami has ordered the ministry to gear up the efforts to produce at least 20,000 liters of disinfectants per day to counter the spreading coronavirus in the country.

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As a preventive measure, authorities have ordered a week-long closure of educational and cultural institutions across 14 provinces as of Sunday.

A spokesman for Tehran’s Department of Education, Masoud Saqafi, said the decision was made to “prepare schools” which have to be disinfected and sanitized.

The Plan and Budget Organization has allocated 3.5 trillion rials (nearly $125 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) to the Ministry of Health in order to prevent and combat COVID-19, as disinfecting public places like schools.

Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, head of the Plan and Budget Organization, wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday that after coordinating with Health Minister Saeed Namaki and the chancellors of Qom, Gilan and Shahid Beheshti universities of medical sciences, a total of 3.5 trillion rials (nearly $125 million) has been allocated to the Ministry of Health for preventing and confronting the novel coronavirus, ISNA reported.

Asadollah Abbassi, spokesman of the Majlis (Iranian parliament)’s presiding board, quoted the health minister as saying that 47 people in the country have been infected with the virus, of whom 12 died so far.

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The Health Ministry said on Monday that Iran’s coronavirus death toll had jumped by four to 12 – by far the highest outside China – as its neighbors closed their borders and imposed strict quarantine measures.

Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, a lawmaker from the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, alleged the government was “lying” about the full extent of the outbreak, alleging that “50 deaths” took place in Qom alone.

Farahani did not provide evidence to support his claims but said more than 250 people are quarantined in Qom.

The government rejected his claim that the virus had killed 50 in Qom.

“I categorically deny this information,” Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said in a news conference aired live on TV.

“This is not the time for political confrontations. The coronavirus is a national problem,” he added.

He raised the number of confirmed cases of infections to 61 and added that some 900 other suspected cases are being tested.

“No one is qualified to discuss this sort of news at all,” Harirchi said, adding that lawmakers have no access to coronavirus statistics and could be mixing figures on deaths related to other diseases like the flu with the new virus.

The government pledged transparency over the outbreak.

“We will announce any figures (we have) on the number of deaths throughout the country. We pledge to be transparent about the reporting of figures,” government spokesman Ali Rabiei said.

Iran has been scrambling to contain the COVID-19 outbreak since it announced the first two deaths in the holy city of Qom on Wednesday last week.

Authorities have since ordered the closure of schools, universities, and other educational centers across the country as a “preventive measure.”

A spokesman for Parliament, Assadollah Abbassi, announced the latest four deaths among more than 60 infections after Monday’s closed-door gathering of lawmakers.

Citing Health Minister Saeid Namaki, he said that “the causes of coronavirus infections in Iran are people who have entered the country from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China”, some of whom illegally.

The worst-hit province for infections is Qom, with 34 cases, according to the Health Ministry figures.

AP

The others are in Tehran with 13 infections, Gilan with six, Markazi with four, Isfahan with two, and one each for Hamedan and Mazandaran.

The health minister said that one person who died of coronavirus in Qom was a businessman who had made several trips to China.

In his remarks to state television on Sunday, Namaki said direct flights between Iran and China were now suspended, but the businessman had traveled there “on a connecting flight.”

President Hassan Rouhani on Monday gave directives for handling issues concerning the coronavirus by speeding up the process to stem the disease.

In his phone call with governors-general of Gilan and Qom provinces, Rouhani urged the officials to use all facilities to boost people’s confidence in the health system.

Border closures

Since it emerged in December, the new coronavirus has killed more than 2,500 people in China.

Iran now accounts for nearly half of the deaths elsewhere in the world, which currently stand at 30.

Many of Iran’s neighbors have reported cases of coronavirus in people who had traveled to the Islamic Republic.

Afghanistan on Monday reported its first case in a person who had traveled to Qom.

Iraq announced its first case, an Iranian theology student in the holy city of Najaf, who had entered the country before the government banned the entry of non-Iraqis coming from Iran.

Iraq has shut its border with the Islamic Republic and imposed a travel ban.

Similar preventive measures were imposed by Afghanistan, Armenia, Pakistan, and Turkey.

Qom is a center for Islamic studies and pilgrims, attracting scholars from Iran and beyond.

Kuwait detected the virus in three people among 700 who had been evacuated on Saturday from the Iranian city of Mashhad. Iran, however, has not yet reported any confirmed cases of the virus in Mashhad.

They were a 53-year-old Kuwaiti man, a 61-year-old Saudi man, and a 21-year-old whose nationality was unclear, the Health Ministry said.

In neighboring Bahrain, the Health Ministry said a Bahraini citizen who arrived from Iran had been diagnosed with the disease.

Qatar Airways said it would ask passengers arriving from Iran and South Korea to remain in home isolation or a quarantine facility for 14 days. Qatar has not recorded any coronavirus cases.

The United Arab Emirates has recorded 13 cases, the latest two are an Iranian tourist and his wife.

AFP, AP, Reuters, and IRNA contributed to this story.

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In a telephone conversation with Health Minister Saeed Namaki on Monday, Major General Salami said the IRGC is ready to provide assistance to the health authorities and help in the fight against coronavirus.

In addition to the training measures to prevent the disease, all health sectors of the IRGC are ready to continue to provide services and assistance until the situation returns to normal, he added.

The top commander also hailed the role of the Basij (Mobilization) Force in implementing a national program on Polio vaccination as a very successful model and experience.

Earlier on Monday, Namaki said the number of people who have died from the coronavirus in the country has risen to 12 and the total number of confirmed cases to 47, according to an MP.

In an interview with Tasnim, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s presiding board said the Health Minister has announced in a closed-door session of the parliament on Monday that the number of cases admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 infection has reached 47 and the death toll has risen to 12.

The minister has also noted that two coronavirus cases have been detected in capital Tehran, both of whom had traveled to the city of Qom, where the first cases of coronavirus were reported in Iran, Asadollah Abbasi said.

The lawmaker said families in the province of Qom are being given free packages including masks and detergents.

The Health Ministry says the source of contagion in Iran were the individuals returning to Iran from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China, some of whom have crossed the border illegally, the MP added.

China had 150 new confirmed coronavirus deaths on Sunday, the National Health Commission announced on Monday, pushing the death toll nationwide to 2,592.

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