TEHRAN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 infections confirmed in Iran rose on Saturday to 841,308, after 12,931 new cases were registered in the past 24 hours.
Sima Sadat Lari, the spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said at her daily briefing that 2,155 of the newly infected required hospitalization.
Between Friday and Saturday, she further said, 431 deaths of COVID-19 patients were registered, taking the total death toll of the epidemic in Iran to 44,327 so far.
As of Saturday, 596,136 patients have recovered from the disease, but 5,778 infected remain currently in critical condition in intensive care units.
The number of laboratory tests for COVID-19 carried out in Iran has now reached 5,747,325, according to the spokeswoman.
The risk of infection remains currently high in 27 out of 31 Iranian provinces, Sadat Lari pointed.
Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19. Enditem