Tasnim � Iran�s president assigned the Intelligence Ministry to handle a complaint from the Minister of Health who has expressed frustration with a group of profiteers that have hoarded respiratory masks amid a growing demand for the health products after the outbreak of COVID-19.

Iranian President�s Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi said on Sunday that the Intelligence Ministry has been tasked by President Hassan Rouhani with addressing the problem of profiteering in the sale of the medical products necessary for the fight against the novel coronavirus.

In a Sunday session of the cabinet of ministers, the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Tarde was also assigned to immediately satisfy the demand for respiratory masks, Vaezi added.

A few days ago, Health Minister Saeed Namaki wrote a letter to Rouhani, complaining that a series of profiteers have begun to hoard masks while the country�s health sector is in dire need of medical products for the battle with coronavirus.

The death toll from the novel coronavirus epidemic in Iran rose to 54 on Sunday, and the total number of confirmed cases of infection reached 978.

The novel coronavirus has killed more than 3,000 people worldwide, the vast majority in mainland China. There have been more than 85,000 global cases, with infections on every continent except Antarctica.