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TEHRAN 25 Feb (ANA) - Iran's deputy health minister has tested positive for coronavirus as the crisis deepened in the Islamic republic today. 

 

Iraj Harirchi was taken into quarantine just a day after sweating heavily at a press conference where he insisted that the outbreak was not as bad as feared.  

 

The virus's spread into the health ministry is the latest sign of Tehran's faltering efforts to contain the outbreak as the official death toll rose to 15 today. 

 

The regime has refused to seal off the holy city of Qom at the centre of the crisis even as pilgrims spread the virus around the Middle East and Iranians face shortages of masks and testing kits. 

 

Even according to official figures, Iran has the worst virus outbreak in the Middle East with at least 95 people now infected - an increase of 34 since yesterday - and three new deaths bringing the toll to 15.  

 

However, there is strong suspicion that the true figures are much higher, with one lawmaker declaring yesterday that 50 people had died in the city of Qom.     

 

Qom, where the virus is believed to have arrived in Iran from China, is a major destination for Shi'ite pilgrims from around the Middle East. 

 

Around 20million pilgrims visit the city every year, and Iran would find it difficult to shut its porous borders with neighbours including Afghanistan and Pakistan.  

 

But despite the growing crisis, the governor of Qom declared last night that locking down the city was 'not an appropriate solution', Iranian media said. 

 

A series of Middle East governments have imposed travel bans after the virus spread across the region and Turkey today ordered a jet to be diverted on its way from Tehran to Ankara.(ANA) 

FA/ANA/25 February 2020------