TEHRAN - President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday night that all organizations served people in the first two weeks of the Persian New Year (Nowruz), which started on March 20.

Rouhani noted in a message on his Instagram page that government and non-governmental organizations performed their duties to maintain public health during the Nowruz holidays.

"Nowruz coincided with the difficult days of dealing with the coronavirus," the president said .

"The health system, governmental and non-governmental organizations, have spent the Nowruz days performing their duties and efforts to maintain public health," he said. “The meetings of the National Task Force for Combating Coronavirus as well as the Cabinet were held continuously to make the necessary decisions and support in the shortest possible time."

President also stated, “Various videoconferences with provincial officials and doctors have also led to a more accurate assessment of the situation and needs. These meetings and programs related to the coronavirus were the main agenda of the president's work in the first two weeks of the year 1399.”

On Thursday, Iranian Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour announced that so far 50,468 people in the country have been confirmed infected with the coronavirus and 3,160 people have died. He also said 16,711 have recovered and discharged from hospitals .

Worldwide, the total number of infections recorded since the beginning of the outbreak reached more than 1 million people. Some 200,000 people have recovered globally while nearly 53,000 have died.