Report: Nearly 45,000 people died of COVID-19 in Iran

A medical worker, wearing protective gear, checks on a coronavirus (COVID-19) patient at a hospital in Tehran, Iran on 20 October 2020 [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]

Some 44,802 people have died of complications caused by coronavirus in Iran, a spokesperson for the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Health revealed yesterday.

Sima Sadat Lari said the new toll comes after 475 people died in the last 24 hours due to the highly infectious disease.

Some 603,445 people have recovered from the disease.

On Friday, Deputy Minister of Health for Research and Technology, Reza Malekzadeh, announced his resignation in protest of Health Minister Saeed Namaki’s mismanagement of the pandemic which he said had led to unnecessary death.

Ali Nobakht-Haghighi, vice-chairman of the Covid-19 Advisory Council, also resigned from the health ministry on Friday in protest of Namaki’s mismanagement.

READ: Iran tightens COVID-19 restrictions, but some streets still busy

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