Iran has recorded 135 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the national total to 988, a health official said, as the coronavirus outbreak continued its relentless spread.

The Health Ministry also announced on Tuesday that a total of 16,169 patients have been diagnosed with the highly contagious coronavirus, up by 1,178 a day earlier. So far, 5,389 have recovered.

A nationwide screening is currently underway to identify suspected cases, according to Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour, who encouraged people to register on Salamat.gov.ir if they exhibit symptoms, IRNA reported.

“More than 15 million people have undergone health screening up to now. We hope this number will increase,” he added.

The spokesman noted that although the number of cases in some provinces shows an upward trend, some regions have not added new patients.

Jahanpour urged people to refrain from crisscrossing the country during the upcoming holidays and said, “We can control the virus, if people cooperate.”

A regional emergency director for the World Health Organization told Reuters that Tehran’s administration is determined to contain the contagion.

Rick Brennan said, “They are rapidly increasing their ability to test and so the numbers will go up.”

Brennan returned from Iran last week after his mission to offer the virus-hit country instructions on curbing the spread of the infectious disease.

Stream of Int’l Aid

The United Nations Children’s Fund sent its third batch of humanitarian aid to Iran on Monday, which included medical equipment as well as guidelines on creating a safe environment for children during the coronavirus pandemic.

UNICEF’s previous packages arrived in Iran in late February and on March 3, which aimed to supply health care providers with protective gear.

Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah contacted his Iranian counterpart on Tuesday to announce a donation of $10 million to help the country tackle the deadly virus.

“China dispatched yet another package of medical supplies weighing 15 tons to Tehran on Tuesday night. The items include testing kits, ventilators, high-quality facemasks, disinfectants and protective equipment for health workers,” Iran’s Ambassador to China Mohammad Keshavarz-Zadeh tweeted.

The envoy said Beijing had delivered another batch with the same weight and content to Iran on Sunday.

Turkey has also provided Iran with medical supplies amid concerns over the rising infections in Iran.

The neighboring country’s health ministry sent 1,000 virus diagnosis kits, 4,715 protective equipment, 20,000 surgical gowns, 2,004 goggles, 4,000 N95 masks and 78,000 three-layer masks to Iran.

Another Iranian ally, Russia, said they will continue to help Iran during this crisis. Moscow had previously donated 50,000 testing kits to Tehran.

Iran’s Ambassador in Moscow Kazem Jalali talked on phone with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov who said the country is taking measures to lift American sanctions against Tehran, which would allow Iran to effectively fight the coronavirus outbreak.

Russia is working on ways to support Iran, one of which is using the EU financial mechanism known as the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchange.

INSTEX was designed by Europe to circumvent the United States’ unilateral sanctions imposed on Tehran since 2018.