TEHRAN, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran announced on Tuesday 13,881 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in the past 24 hours, raising to 975,951 the total number of infections registered in the country.
A total of 2,237 of the newly infected had to be hospitalized, Sima Sadat Lari, the spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said at her daily briefing.
The epidemic has so far claimed 48,628 lives in Iran, after the registration of 382 new deaths between Monday and Tuesday, according to the official figures.
Fortunately, Sadat Lari said, 677,963 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered or been released from Iranian hospitals, but 5,840 others are currently in critical condition in intensive care units.
The risk of infection, she added, is currently high in 27 Iranian provinces.
Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19.
In the last few weeks, Iranian authorities have significantly stepped up traffic restrictions, lockdown measures and COVID-19 testing activity nationwide. Enditem