CORRECTION - Head of Iran's emergency medical services contracts COVID-19

CORRECTS HEADLINE

By Ahmet Dursun

ANKARA (AA) - The head of Iran's emergency medical services has tested positive for the coronavirus, local media reported on Tuesday.

Pir-Hossein Kolivand is currently under treatment and he was recovering well, according to the country’s semiofficial Tasnim News Agency.

Kolivand is not the first high-ranking Iranian official to contract the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19.

Previously, Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi and 23 deputies had tested positive for virus.

Iran has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases and the number of infected people in the country reached more than 2,300 on Tuesday.

The country’s Health Ministry also confirmed 77 deaths due to the coronavirus.

The global death toll from the coronavirus, officially known as the COVID-19, has reached 3,044, with more than 89,000 confirmed cases.

The World Health Organization, which already declared the outbreak an international health emergency, updated the global risk level to “very high.”

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz