Iranian trade minister tests positive for coronavirus

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Iran's Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani has tested positive for the coronavirus, known as COVID-19, an online Iranian news site said on Wednesday.

Rahmani tested positive for COVID-19 and remains at intensive care unit at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Hospital, according to Asriran.

Rahmani is not the first high-ranking Iranian official to contract the virus. Dozens of Iranian officials, including at least 23 lawmakers, had so far tested positive for the virus.

Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi and another lawmaker, Mahmoud Sadeghi were also infected with COVID-19.

Iran has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases over the past month and the number of infected people in the country is now over 2,300.

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

The new coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China, in Hubei province in December. It has spread to at least 73 countries.

The global death toll from the virus is over 3,000, with more than 89,000 infected.

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