A total of 724 people of the infected cases have died, Kianush Jahanpur, head of Public Relations and Information Center of the ministry, was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.

A total of 4,790 people have also recovered, Jahanpur said.

The Iranian health official urged the halt of travels on the eve of Iran's new year holidays to begin on March 20.

Iranian president on Sunday ruled out the possibility of quarantining the cities or regions.

A team comprising five experts from the Red Cross Society of China arrived in Tehran on Feb 29. The Chinese medical team in Iran has set "an excellent example of 'peer-to-peer' experience sharing," Maria van Kerkhove, technical lead for the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Program, told a daily briefing in Geneva in early March.

On Feb 25, China's embassy in Tehran delivered 250,000 masks to Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education as a support to protect Iranians against COVID-19.