TEHRAN- The total number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus in Iran has reached 55,743, of whom 3,452 have died and 19,736 recovered.

Meanwhile, 2,560 new patients have been identified over the past 24 hours, Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on Saturday.

He added that 158 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 the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the national economy.

MG