Over 10,000 Iranian health workers infected with coronavirus, say media reports

Over 10,000 health workers in Iran have been infected with the novel coronavirus, media reports have said.

Iran has so far reported 7,249 deaths and a total of 129,341 infections, and is the hardest hit Middle East country by the respiratory pandemic

The Health Ministry said in April that over 100 health workers had died of COVID-19.

A recent report by parliament's research centre suggested that the actual tally of infections and deaths in Iran might be almost twice that announced by the health ministry.

Earlier on Thursday, Health Minister Saeed Namaki appealed to Iranians to avoid travelling during the Eid al-Fitr religious holiday later this month to avoid the risk of a new surge of coronavirus infections.

Infected cases have been on a rising trajectory for the past two weeks. However, President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran was close to curbing the outbreak.