Namaki made the comments while speaking on the sidelines of a video conference with officials of the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office.
“Due to advances in our diagnosis capability, we have been able to identify more COVID-19 cases in the country,” Saeed Namaki said late Thursday.
“Signs of their recovery will further emerge in the following days; this will completely transform Iran’s situation on the world stage,” he added.
During the meeting, the WHO officials praised Iran’s anti-coronavirus initiative, known as the “national mobilization against the coronavirus”, and called for the application of Iran’s experience in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
In his remarks on Thursday, Namaki said that more than 90 percent of the initiative’s target population had been “covered”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting with WHO officials, Namaki stressed that Iran’s “positive situation” among the countries in the eastern Mediterranean region was due to public cooperation.
The health minister added that Iran has yet to fully control the disease and that physical distancing restrictions imposed across the country will be extended as planned until next week.
According to Iran’s Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases has reached 53,183 8 on Fri., with a total death toll of 3,294 and 17,935 recovered.
Iran, which is grappling with widespread US sanctions banning medical aid from reaching the country, has been among the worst affected by the disease.
The country’s ranking in the number of confirmed cases has, however, dropped from second place to the seventh over the past month.
The US sanctions have hampered Iran’s fight against the fast-spreading disease amid the UN’s failure to push for the lifting of the restrictions.
MNA/PR