TEHRAN – Thirteen new cases of infection with the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, have been identified in Iran, deputy health minister Kiyanoush Jahanpour said on Friday.

“Based on latest experiments, 13 new cases of the coronavirus have been so far identified, of whom two have lost their lives,” the official said, IRNA reported.

He went on to say that over the past couple of days, thousands of people have referred to clinic and a total of 735 people with symptoms of influenza have been hospitalized.

More than 2,200 people have now died from the coronavirus in China, with the majority of deaths coming out Wuhan, capital of Hubei province.

In China alone, there have been more than 75,000 cases of infection. The virus has also spread around the globe with more than 1,000 cases and several deaths worldwide.

MG