The death toll in Iran from the coronavirus surpassed 3,000 on Wednesday after 138 people died in 24 hours.

Iran's Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpoor said on state television Wednesday that nealy 3,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the past 24 hours. He said 3,871 patients are hospitalized in critical condition, while 15,473 patients have recovered, according to Reuters .

Photos: The Global Coronavirus Outbreak View All 78 Images

Health officials report nearly 47,600 cases of the coronavirus in Iran, and 3,036 people have died. The country has the seventh most cases and the sixth most deaths behind Italy, Spain, the U.S., France and China, where the virus originated, according to Johns Hopkins University .

In France, health officials recorded the country's highest single-day death toll on Monday at 499 people in just 24 hours. France has recorded more than 52,830 cases of COVID-19, and more than 3,500 people have died.

In an effort to alleviate the country's hardest-hit hospitals, the French Ministry of Health announced two high-speed trains have been transformed to accommodate patients and will transfer 36 people from Paris to western France on Wednesday, CNN reported .

Hospitals in Paris are struggling to accommodate the most critical patients who require life-support units.

The first train carried 24 people and left from Austerlitz station in Paris on Wednesday morning. It is headed to Saint-Brieuc and Brest in France's Brittany region. The northwesternmost region hasn't been hit as hard as Paris and can receive patients to alleviate the capital's hospitals.