ANKARA 

A total of 139 people in Iran have died due to the novel coronavirus over the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll up to 2,517, health officials announced on Saturday.

Health Ministry spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour said 3,076 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 35,408.

Also, 546 people have recovered from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 11,679, according to Jahanpour.

He added that over 3,200 patients were in critical condition.

After first appearing in Wuhan, China, last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 177 countries and territories, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

The data shows over 602,200 cases have been reported worldwide since last December, with the death toll above 27,800 and over 131,800 recoveries.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar