A top Iranian health official confirmed he has been infected with coronavirus as an outbreak of a novel strand in the Middle Eastern nation has already claimed 15 lives.
Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi looked unwell during a news conference in Tehran on Tuesday, during which he acknowledged that he contracted the disease.
“I too have been infected with coronavirus,” Harirchi said. “I had a fever as of last night and my preliminary test was positive around midnight.”
The new coronavirus strand, which is part of a family of coronavirus illnesses including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, MERS-CoV, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, SARS-CoV, has spread rapidly around the world with new cases appearing in countries such as South Korea, Italy, and the United States.
Mahmoud Sadeghi, an Iranian parliamentarian representing Tehran, tweeted that he also tested positive for the disease, adding, “I have little hope living in this world.”
Iran is the second deadliest infection area since the outbreak in Wuhan, China, at the end of last year. Although Iran has only confirmed 100 infected patients, 15 of them have died which equates to a 15% fatality rate, which is immensely higher than the 2% fatality rate in China that the country’s National Health Commission reported in early February.
This year there have been more than 80,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world, mainly in China, and at least 2,500 people have died.
