Some 78 more Iranians have died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) over the past 24 hours bringing the total deaths to 60,431, Iran's Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on Thursday.

Some 8,404 new cases of infection with the COVID-19 were found over the past 24 hours, 709 of whom were hospitalized, Lari said.

She added that with the 78 new victims, the country's total COVID-19 deaths mounted to 60,431.

Lari noted that 1,420,958 patients out of a total of 1,665,103 infected people have recovered or been discharged from the hospitals.

Some 3,760 other COVID-19 patients are in critical condition and being treated in intensive care units, the spokeswoman said.

Since its outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than 114 million people across the world, of whom over 2,530,000 people have lost their lives.