Iran records its highest daily death toll from coronavirus

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran announced on Sunday its highest single-day death toll from the coronavirus with 251 confirmed dead.

Health Ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari said this pushes the total confirmed death toll to 28,544, making it the hardest-hit country in the region.

A further 3,822 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hour-period, raising total nationwide recorded cases to 500,075. Nearly 4,509 patients are in critical condition.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Iran’s currency on Sunday hit another record low on the same day a local news report said the head of the country’s atomic energy organization had tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the latest senior official to become infected.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency said Ali Akbar Salehi, who is also a vice president of Iran, had confirmed positive for the virus last week and has been in home quarantine since. The news agency reported that his health condition is currently good.

Iran has recorded at least 28,000 deaths out of around 496,000 confirmed cases of the virus, making it the hardest-hit country in the region. Just last week, Iran reported its highest daily death toll from the virus with 239 new fatalities reported on Wednesday.

Iran has struggled to contain the spread of the virus across this nation of 80 million people, initially beating it back only to see a spike in cases again, beginning in June. The government has largely resisted imposing wide-scale lockdowns as the economy teeters from continued U.S. economic sanctions that effectively bar Iran from selling its oil internationally.

Money exchange shops in Tehran sold the U.S. dollar at 315,000 rials on Sunday, compared to what was 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of...