Coronavirus: Iran reports 185 new deaths

Iran’s coronavirus death toll reached 17,802 on Wednesday, as it claimed 185 lives in the past 24 hours, a health ministry official said.

The total number of infections reached 317,483, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said.

There are currently over 4,000 coronavirus patients in intensive care units in hospitals across the country, Lari said.

On Wednesday, Lari said that 170 Iranian cities are currently classified as “red zones” while 101 other cities are in a “state of alert.”

Authorities in Iran have divided the country into white, yellow, and red zones, depending on the severity of the coronavirus crisis. Red zones are deemed “high-risk.”

Some officials in Iran have cast doubt on the official coronavirus figures in the country and have accused the health ministry of lack of transparency. There is also scepticism abroad about Iran’s official figures, with concerns the real toll could be much higher.

A BBC report published this week alleged that the number of deaths from coronavirus in Iran was almost triple that of the official death toll by the second half of July.

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