Iran's coronavirus death toll surpasses 8,000

Iran on Wednesday confirmed 70 more fatalities from the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 8,012.

A further 3,134 people tested positive for the virus, raising the overall count to 160,696, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.

Jahanpour said 125,206 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far, while 2,585 patients remain in critical condition.

A total of 997,009 tests have been conducted in the country so far, according to the ministry.

The country continues seeing an upward trend in daily infections in many provinces, especially in the southwestern Khuzestan province.

Razavi Khorasan, West and East Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Hormozgan, Sistan, and Baluchestan provinces are among the high-risk regions, it added.

Despite the rising number of cases, government employees went back to work, and mosques resumed daily prayers across the Middle Eastern country on Saturday.

Shopping malls are now open beyond 6.00 p.m. (1330GMT) closing time imposed as part of the virus restrictions.

Iran started loosening the containment measures in April, and classified areas as white, orange and red, indicating low, medium and high risk for infections, respectively.