Iran's death toll from coronavirus increases to 853: official

[March 16, 2020]  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's death toll from the new coronavirus has reached 853 with 129 new deaths in the past 24 hours, a health ministry official tweeted on Monday, adding that 14,991 people have been infected across Iran.

"In the past 24 hours we had 1,053 confirmed new cases of coronavirus and 129 new deaths," Alireza Vahabzadeh tweeted.

To contain the outbreak in Iran, one of the deadliest outside of China, officials have called on people to stay at home.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi)

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