Iran’s VP for women and family affairs is latest official to test positive for coronavirus

Iranian’s vice president for women and family affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar, has contracted the coronavirus. Three high-ranking officials, including Iran’s deputy health minister, were already known to be infected.

“Ms. Ebtekar showed signs of infection with coronavirus and was tested. The results came back positive,” IRNA quoted a spokesperson for the vice president as saying.

Earlier in the day, the head of the parliamentary security and foreign relations commission Mojtaba Zonnour said he had also tested positive for the virus.

Iran is enduring a large coronavirus outbreak; 26 people have died from the disease, while over 245 cases have been confirmed, according to Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour.

On Wednesday, a coronavirus threat prompted the partial closure of some Shiite holy sites, as well as cancellation of some Friday sermons in a bid to stop the virus from spreading. A number of schools and universities have remained closed since last week, when Tehran first acknowledged the outbreak.

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