TEHRAN, February 27. /TASS/. The overall number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in Iran has reached 245, 26 of them have died, Spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education Kiyanush Jahanpur said on Thursday.

"To date, 26 people have died," Fars News Agency quotes him as saying. He added that 106 new cases of diseases caused by coronavirus had been identified over the past 24 hours. On Wednesday, Jahanpur said 139 people had contracted the novel coronavirus, while 19 patients have died.

Mojtaba Zonnur, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iran’s Majlis (parliament), earlier said that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. "My corona test has been confirmed positive. There is no concern. I am isolated," Zonnour was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency. On Tuesday, media reports said that another Iranian lawmaker, Mahmoud Sadeghi, had contracted the novel coronavirus.

Iran reported first novel coronavirus cases on February 19. According to official data, they have been confirmed in 20 provinces.

The outbreak of the now-infamous novel coronavirus pneumonia was recorded in Wuhan, an economic and industrial metropolis, in late December 2019. The World Health Organization has declared it a public health emergency of international concern, describing it as an epidemic with multiple locations. Apart from China, 44 other countries, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases.

According to the authorities, the number of people infected with the new coronavirus in China has passed 78,400. Of these, 2,744 were fatalities, while more than 32,400 patients recovered.