TEHRAN - The Iranian Health Ministry reported that 73 coronavirus patients lost their lives in the country over the past 24 hours, a sharp decline compared with 89 deaths the day before.

Over the past 24 hours, 1,374 new patients were infected with the coronavirus compared with 1,499 a day earlier, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on Saturday, ISNA reported.

The total number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus in the country has reached 80,868, of whom 55,987 have recovered and 5,031 have died.

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

Plasma therapy has so far reduced coronavirus deaths in Iran by 40 percent as experts in the country have discovered a life-saving method for those recovering from COVID-19. 

Iranian-made medical items will be soon mass-produced and hit the market within the next month, Babak Shokri, vice-chancellor of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences has stated. The items consist of diagnostic kits, face masks and ventilators made by Iranian researchers, he said. 

MG