TEHRAN - The number of people diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, in Iran has increased to 12,729, of whom 611 have died and 4,339 recovered so far.

Over the past 24 hours, 1,365 new cases of people having the virus have been identified, Deputy Health Minister Kiyanoush Jahanpour said, ISNA reported.

The highest number of new cases were reported from the provinces of Tehran, Isfahan, and Alborz with 347, 155, and 134 cases, respectively.

Richard Brennan, the Regional Emergency Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region, has said countries in the region and all over the world should use Iran’s experience as a role model in fight against the novel coronavirus.

“Iran benefits from one of the strongest healthcare systems in the region. Iran has made notable achievements in the field of battling coronavirus,” the WHO official said in a press conference in Tehran on March 7, IRNA reported.

The Iranian health ministry has announced that testing a domestically-made medicine has resulted in improvement of symptoms in severe cases of coronavirus.

An immunomodulatory drug called "Actemra" in patients with coronavirus in a hospital in Isfahan city has led to a partial improvement of the patient's symptoms in scans, Jahanpour said on Wednesday.

The first case undergone trial, and symptoms have declined within 48 hours after consumption, but it is still too early to judge, he added.

Over the coming days, this trial will continue in other patients with the diagnosis of physicians, and if it has a relative effect, it will likely be included in the national pharmaceutical list, and case reports in China also indicate its relative usefulness in some cases of COVID-19 severe cases, he explained.

MG