TEHRAN, March 11. /TASS/. The novel coronavirus has infected a total of 9,000 people in Iran, 354 fatalities have been reported, Spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Health Kianoush Jahanpur said on Wednesday.

"A total of 958 novel coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the country over the past 24 hours. The overall number is 9,000," Fars News Agency quotes him as saying. He added that 354 people had died. Earlier reports said that 8,042 people had contracted the virus and 291 patients had died.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani cautioned citizens against going outside. "The safest place now is our home. There we can protect ourselves and our families," he said.

Iran reported first novel coronavirus cases on February 19. Due to the spread of the virus, all Iranian schools are closed until the end of March, and many countries have limited communication with the Islamic republic.

On Tuesday, Majlis Deputy Speaker Abdolreza Mesri said that 23 lawmakers had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in all provinces of the country.

A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center, in late December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, describing it as an epidemic with multiple locations. Besides China, major coronavirus outbreaks have been reported in Italy, South Korea and Iran. More than 100 countries, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases.

Over 3,100 people have died in China, which accounts for the majority of novel coronavirus cases, more than 61,400 patients have recovered, while the total number of infected people has surpassed 80,000.

According to the World Health Organization, over 110,000 have been infected worldwide, more than 4,000 patients have died.