Iran said Tuesday that the new coronavirus has killed 54 more people, raising the death toll to 291 with 8,042 registered cases.
Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour made the announcement in a televised news conference. It represented an 18% increase in deaths from the day before and 12% more confirmed cases.
The rising casualty figures each day in Iran suggest the fight against the new coronavirus is far from over, even as more people die from drinking methanol in the false belief it kills the virus.
A rumor circulating in Iran that alcohol can treat coronavirus has so far led to 37 deaths and sent 270 people to the hospital after being poisoned by bootleg alcohol, the state-run IRNA news agency said Tuesday.
Alcoholic beverages are illegal in Iran, but homemade brews in the southern city of Ahvaz apparently substituted toxic methanol for ethanol and used bleach to mask the color, Health Ministry official Ali Ehsanpour said.
Seven bootleggers have been identified and arrested, said Ali Beiranvand, the deputy prosecutor in Ahvaz.
Jahanpour warned figures in Iran likely will continue to rise before the Persian New Year, Nowruz, on March 20. He urged people to limit their travel, which already has been difficult for police manning checkpoints on roads between major cities. Iran has yet to take widespread quarantine decisions like China and Italy.
“The rate of spreading disease is still rising,” Jahanpour told a televised news conference.
Iran is the hardest-hit country in the Middle East by the new coronavirus, which sickens but largely doesn’t kill those afflicted.
Earlier on Monday, Tehran released approximately 70,000 prisoners because of the new outbreak, Iranian judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi said.
"The release of the prisoners, to the point where it doesn't create insecurity in society ... will continue," Raisi said, according to Mizan, the news site of the judiciary
Across the region, there are over 8,600 confirmed cases of the virus. Worldwide, there are over 110,000 confirmed cases of the new virus, with more than 3,800 deaths attributed to it.
The number of people who have recovered has reached 62,000, according to the Associated Press reported. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
