TEHRAN, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Iran's confirmed novel coronavirus cases rose to 298,909 on Wednesday after an overnight registration of 2,636 new infections, state TV reported.
At her daily briefing, Sima Sadat Lari, the spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said out of the new cases in the past 24 hours, 1,604 have been hospitalized.
The pandemic has so far claimed the lives of 16,343 Iranians, up by 196 in the past 24 hours, she said.
Besides, 259,116 have recovered and been discharged from hospitals while 4,027 remain in critical condition.
According to Lari, 2,405,862 lab tests for COVID-19 have been carried out in Iran as of Wednesday.
She said that 25 provinces are either in high-risk or on alert condition over the disease.
Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19.
Iran and China have offered mutual help in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Enditem
