Virus sets Iran record again - this time infections

A woman wearing a protective face mask to help prevent spread of the coronavirus has her temperature checked as she enters a shopping center, in Tehran, Iran. (File/AP)

• The latest figure of 8,293 cases of infection in a 24-hour period far exceeds the previous highest number registered
• The virus has also claimed another 399 lives in the Middle East's worst-hit country

TEHRAN: Coronavirus infections in Iran have set a daily record of more than 8,000 new cases, official figures showed Thursday, after two straight days of record deaths from the pandemic.
The latest figure of 8,293 cases of infection in a 24-hour period far exceeds the previous highest number registered only two days earlier of 6,968 people who tested positive.
The virus has also claimed another 399 lives in the Middle East's worst-hit country, the health ministry announced, raising the total number of victims to 34,113.
On Wednesday, Iran reported a record death toll of 415 over a 24-hour period, 69 more than Tuesday's toll which was also a daily record.
President Hassan Rouhani warned last week that his country faces "a larger wave of this virus and we have to fight it".
Figures have kept rising since September.
In the eight months since the first cases surfaced in Iran, a total of 596,941 infections from Covid-19 have been confirmed.