Iran death toll from new coronavirus outbreak rises by 63 to 6,340

Iran health ministry official on Tuesday said that the death toll from the outbreak of new coronavirus in Iran has risen by 63 in the past 24 hours to 6,340.

Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said in a statement on state TV said that the total number of diagnosed cases in Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the outbreak in the Middle East, has reached close to 100,000.

"The number of confirmed infections with this disease is now close to 100,000," Jahanpour said,

"We lost 63 of our countrymen in the past 24 hours, reaching a total of 6,340 deaths from COVID-19 to date," he added.

Jahanpour said that another 1,323 people tested positive for the virus during the same period, bringing the overall number to 99,970.

Two-thirds of the fresh cases were "those sampled as outpatients" or family members of those infected, Jahanpour said.

On Saturday, Iran's new daily infections hit their lowest since March 10 but they have picked up again since then.