Seventy-five more Iranians have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll in the country to 429, the Iranian Health Ministry said on Thursday.
“We have identified 1,075 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, meaning that there are 10,075 infected people in the country. The death toll is 429,” said Iranian Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur, according to Reuters.
Senior Iranian officials, politicians and clerics, as well as members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, have contracted COVID-19, despite the fact that the regime has closed schools, and has suspended religious and sporting events.
Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki told Iranians during a live television broadcast to “stay at home. Don’t go shopping. You are making our job more difficult by ignoring the advice,” according to the report.
Meanwhile, Tehran has requested emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Thursday.
Iran’s Central Bank chief Abdolnaser Hemmati wrote on his Instagram page that “in a letter addressed to the head of IMF, I have requested five billion U.S. dollars from the Rapid Financial Instrument emergency fund to help our fight against the coronavirus.”
