23 Iranian members of parliament have been confirmed to have the deadly Coronavirus following a spike of cases in the Islamic Republic.
Recall that the Iranian government had earlier announced a death toll of 77 and a total of 2,336 confirmed cases with 835 more than the previous total.
According to Within Nigeria, experts fear the country’s high ratio of deaths to infections which is about 3.3% may mean the actual figure is far greater.
The 23 lawmakers out of the 290 member chamber may have been infected due to their contact with their constituents across the country which has reported the highest number of cases outside China where the virus originated.
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Reza Misri, deputy speaker of Iran’s parliament confirmed that his colleagues tested positive for the deadly disease.
Reza said: “As of now, 23 members of parliament were tested positive. These people have a close relationship with the people and they carry different viruses from different parts of the country, which may create a new virus, so we recommend the lawmakers to cut off their relationship with the public for now.”
Masoumeh Ebtekar, vice president for women and family affairs and Iraj Harirchi, the deputy health minister tasked with managing Iran’s response to the outbreak, are among those who tested positive.