IRNA - Iran’s Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on Sunday that the World Health Organization commended Iran's procedure for everyday reporting COVID-19 contractions, medical treatments and fatalities.

Commenting on some reports made by foreign media on the COVID19 death toll in Iran, Lari said if definitions and indices are changed, all international statistics will change together and are subject to increase or decrease based on new definitions and various criteria.

If we wanted to hide the issue like many countries like in Europe, statistics would be reported with delay and the second wave of coronavirus would be reported under political and economic considerations, she added.

Naturally, statistics are subject to fluctuation and it is common in all countries like in Europe and the US, she noted.

Lari expressed regret that some people are trying to create panic among the public based on unknown sources and speaking absurd.

She advised those media which have released the false information to review reports of death toll in the UK especially in nursing homes or statistics related to some regional countries which have not announced 10% of death tolls either.

Lari said on Saturday that some 216 more Iranians have died from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) over the past 24 hours bringing the total deaths to 16,982.

Some 4,011 other COVID-19 patients are in critical condition and being treated in intensive care units, the spokeswoman said.

She added that 2,482,553 tests have so far been carried out in Iran.