Iran’s Covid-19 death toll climbs to 291

Iran on Tuesday said the new coronavirus had killed 54 more people, raising the death toll to 291 amid 8,042 cases in the Islamic Republic.
Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour made the announcement in a televised news conference.
It represented an 18 per cent increase in deaths from the day before and 12 per cent more confirmed cases.
Iran is the epicentre of the outbreak in the Middle East, while most of the infections in the country have been recorded in Tehran.
Jahanpur said that 2,731 COVID-19 patients have been sent home from hospital after making a recovery.
Iran is the hardest-hit country in the Mideast by the new coronavirus, which sickens but largely doesn’t kill those afflicted.
Across the region, there are over 8,600 confirmed cases of the virus.
For most people, the COVID-19 illness caused by the new coronavirus shows only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and coughs.
For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
Meanwhile, a Health Ministry official said Lebanon announced a 56-year-old man had died from the coronavirus, marking the first known death in the country.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to give official statements, said that the man had recently returned from Egypt.
Lebanon has 41 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, most of them linked to Iran.
No less than one patient who returned from Iran has left the hospital after two weeks successful treatment.
According to the World Health Organisation, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.
In mainland China, where the virus first exploded, over 80,000 people have been diagnosed and over 58,000 have so far recovered.