MNA � The novel coronavirus disease, also known as COVID-19, has infected 3,134 people and claimed 70 lives in Iran in the past 24 hours, a senior health official said.

Iran�s Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour made the announcement on Wednesday, saying that the number of total coronavirus cases in the country has so far reached 160,696 with the death toll standing at 8,012.

COVID-19 has infected 3,134 people and claimed 70 lives in Iran in the past 24 hours, he noted.

He further noted that total number of deaths exceeded 8k since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country.

According to Jahanpour, 2,557 patients are in critical condition and of those originally infected, 125,206 people have recovered.

So far, 997,009 coronavirus tests have been taken across the country to detect infected cases, he added.

According to the latest figures, more than 6.3 million people have so far been infected with the novel coronavirus globally, with the deaths standing at 377,883 and recoveries amounting to 2,922,663.