Iran's Vice President infected with nCoV

Vice President Ebtekar was tested yesterday and tested positive for the coronavirus this morning, Iran's IRNA news agency reported. Ebtekar's media adviser said she is being treated at home, while those who came into contact with her are being tested and the results will be available on February 29.

Ms. Ebtekar is the first member of President Hassan Rouhani's cabinet to be infected with nCoV. Ebtekar attended a cabinet meeting in Tehran yesterday and stood just meters away from President Hassan Rouhani.

Ebtekar was known to the world as the English-language spokesman for the hostage-takers who seized the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, an incident that sparked a 444-day US-Iran diplomatic crisis.

Earlier in the day, the chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, Mojtaba Zolnour, also announced that he had been infected with the virus and was being quarantined. Two other Iranian officials, MP Mahmoud Sadeghi and Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, also tested positive for the virus.

State media also reported today that Hadi Khosroshahi, a cleric in the city of Qom, died of the coronavirus. Khosroshahi served as Iran's ambassador to the Vatican after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The Covid-19 outbreak began in Iran on February 19, when the country's Ministry of Health announced two cases of nCoV infection, both of whom died that day. In the following days, the number of nCoV infections in Iran gradually increased, but Iranian health officials still do not know how the virus entered the country.

The coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Iran as the country is experiencing its coldest period of the year, especially in the capital Tehran and the northern region, with temperatures typically ranging from 5 to 10 degrees Celsius.Qom province today is 13 degrees Celsius, and in Tehran it is 10 degrees Celsius, according toAccuweather.

Iran's Ministry of Health said today that the country recorded 106 new cases of nCoV in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections nationwide to 245. Iran also recorded 26 deaths from nCoV, the second highest in the world, after mainland China. Iran is the country with the highest mortality rate from nCoV in the world, more than 10%, while the average mortality rate in China is only about 3%.

Iranian authorities yesterday announced travel restrictions for people infected or suspected of being infected with the coronavirus. They also limited access to major Shiite pilgrimage sites, including the Imam Reza shrine in the city of Mashhad and the Fatima Masumeh shrine in Qom.

In affected areas, schools were closed for another three days and universities for another week. Friday prayers were also suspended. International health experts have expressed concern about Iran's handling of the outbreak, but Tehran insists the situation has "improved".

The Covid-19 epidemic started in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and has now appeared in 46 countries and territories. The epidemic has infected more than 82,000 people and killed more than 2,800 people worldwide.