TEHRAN– Iranian President Hassan Rouhani underlined the necessity of sharing experiences with other countries in the field of pharmaceuticals to boost efforts in battling the coronavirus (COVID-19).

In a telephone conversation with Vice-President for Science and Technology Sourena Sattari late on Friday, Rouhani noted that benefiting from other countries' experiences and sharing their own expertise with them is a must in the fight against the pandemic.

Highlighting the significant role of the knowledge-based firms in this critical time, Rouhani urged Sattari to take necessary measures to help them exchange knowledge and expertise with foreign firms to pave the way in containing the disease.

The worldwide death toll from the new coronavirus has surpassed 102,000 amid about 1.7 million cases and more than 376,000 recoveries.

Iran is among the hardest-hit countries by the coronavirus. Iranian Health Ministry announced on Friday that the number of coronavirus cases had hit 68,192 in Iran, while a total of 4,232 people had died and 34,465 recovered from the disease.