MOSCOW, (Tass-New Ziana) – Iranian Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar said on Thursday she had tested positive for COVID-19, the latest of a growing list of top government officials in the country to be infected with the disease.

Iran’s national news agency, IRNA said Ebtekar tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday morning, and chose to be quarantined at home.

The country has so far reported 26 novel coronavirus deaths, and 245 cases.

Earlier on Thursday, head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Relations Commission Mojtaba Zonnour also reported contracting coronavirus.

On Tuesday, Iranian MP Mahmoud Sadeghi and Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi revealed they had been stricken by the deadly virus, which originated from China in last December.

It has since spread rapidly around the world, prompting the World Health Organisation to declare it a global health emergency.

According to Chinese authorities, about 78,400 people have been infected with the virus in the country, while the death toll has reached 2,744.
Tass-New Ziana