TEHRAN- The total number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus in Iran has reached 50,468, of whom 3,160 have died and 16,711 recovered.

Meanwhile, 2,875 new patients have been identified over the past 24 hours, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on Thursday.

He added that 124 more people have died during the same period of time, ISNA reported.

Iran has announced social distancing measures in a bid to minimize the spread of coronavirus.

The government has allocated 1,000 trillion rails (about $24 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials) to help lessen impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the national economy.

MG