Number of coronavirus cases in Iran nears 1,000, toll at 54

The number of coronavirus cases in Iran has increased from 593 to 978 over the past 24 hours, while 54 people have died of the disease, Iranian Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on Sunday.

"A total of 385 new cases have been registered, while the total number of those infected as of Sunday afternoon stands at 978. I want to say that there have been 11 fatalities among the new 385 cases that brought the total number of lethal cases to 54," Jahanpur said, as aired by IRINN broadcaster.

A total of 175 people have recovered from the disease to date.

Iran is among the countries that are most affected by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The novel coronavirus was first detected in China in late December and has since spread to more than 50 countries, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a global health emergency.

So far, the virus has infected nearly 80,000 people in mainland China, while over 2,800 people died and nearly 40,000 have recovered.

According to the latest WHO data, the number of those infected outside China has exceeded 7,000, while over 100 people have died.