The Iranian Vice-president has tested positive for Coronavirus, as reported by The New York Times. Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar is the deputy for women’s affairs and the highest-ranking woman in the government, headed by President Hassan Rouhani and sits just metres away from him. She is now Iran’s seventh public official to have tested positive for coronavirus and one of them, a prominent cleric, has also died. Ebtekar is an important figure who was the spokesperson for the students in the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.
Iran has become a new hotbed for Coronavirus cases, with at least 245 people infected and 26 deaths, as reported by Reuters. The Friday prayers in Iran have been called off in the capitals of 23 of 31 provinces.