FNA - Iranian Deputy Health Minister Alireza Rayeesi said on Sunday that test results of nearly 200,000 coronavirus outpatients have shown that 12% of people are infected with the disease.

"We have increased outpatient testes and nearly 200,000 outpatient tests have been conducted and 10% to 12% of our outpatient tests are positive," Rayeesi told reporters in a press conference in Tehran.

He added that the outpatients do not need to be hospitalized and they should rest at home in quarantine.

Rayeesi also said that the death rate among the coronavirus patients in Iran has decreased in the past few weeks.

The Iranian health ministry announced on Sunday that 2,516 new cases of infection to coronavirus have been diagnosed in the country in the past 24 hours, adding that 63 patients have died since yesterday.

"2,516 more patients infected with COVID-19 virus have been identified in the country in the past 24 hours based on confirmed diagnosis criteria," Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on Sunday.

He explained that 511 new patients were hospitalized and 2,005 others were identified as outpatients.

Jahanpour noted that the total number of coronavirus patients in the country has increased to 151,466 people.

He expressed pleasure that 118,848 patients have been recovered and been discharged from hospitals.

Jahanpour said that 7,797 people have lost their lives due to infection to the virus, including 63 in the past 24 hours.

The ministry’s spokesman, meantime, expressed concern that 2,527 patients infected with COVID-19 virus are in critical conditions.

He added that 935,894 coronavirus tests have been conducted in Iran so far.

Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki stressed on April 7 effective measures to control coronavirus epidemic, expressing the hope that the disease would be controlled in Iran by late May.

“At present, the country is in the phase of disease management and we should not imagine that we have reached the harness and control phase. Today is the time for full-fledged combat against the virus. God willing, we will control coronavirus by late May. The virus should be controlled in the minimum possible time,” Namaki said, addressing the Iranian legislators in an open session of the parliament in Tehran.

He noted that at least 30% to 50% of hospital beds are still vacant across Iran and nearly 15,000 beds are ready to keep the patients who are recovering from coronavirus disease.

“We have now moved down to tank 6th in terms of deaths,” Namaki said, adding that the country’s situation in treatment of patients will improve in the next few days.

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting approximately all countries and territories around the world. The virus was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. It has so far killed more than 371,200 people and infected over 6.1 million others globally.

The Iranian foreign ministry declared that despite Washington’s claims of cooperation to transfer drugs to Iran via the new Swiss-launched payment mechanism, the US is troubling the process amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Although US claims that medicines and medical equipment are not under sanctions, they have practically blocked the transfer of Iran’s financial resources in other countries into the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said.

As the death toll from the virus surges, Iran intensifies its preventive safety measures. Closures of schools and most universities have been extended until further notice.

The government also imposed travel restrictions, specially on Iran’s North, which is among the red zones. The country has also adopted strict digital health control procedures at airports to spot possible infections.

Namaki announced last month that a new national mobilization plan would be implemented across the country to fight against the coronavirus epidemic and more effectively treat patients.

Namaki said that the plan will include all the 17,000 health centers and the 9,000 medical and clinical centers in all cities, suburban areas and villages.

He added that the plan will include home quarantine, noting that infected people will receive the necessary medicines and advice, but they are asked to stay at home.

Namaki said that people with a more serious condition will stay at the hospitals, adding that the public places will be disinfected, the entries of infected towns and cities will be controlled to diagnose and quarantine the infected cases.

He added that the necessary equipment and facilities have been provided, expressing the hope that the epidemic would be curbed.

According to the latest statistics of Health Ministry, the number of medical laboratories to test coronavirus infection has reached over 90 across the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Iran's response to the virus has so far been up to the mark. Still, it says the US sanctions are a big challenge, and Washington would be complicit in the rising death toll in Iran if it would not remove its sanctions.

The World Health Organization has considered priorities in combating coronavirus and Islamic Republic of Iran obeys and follows up priorities as defined by WHO.

The WHO is dispatching separate delegations to all countries.