DUBAI, March 17 (Reuters) - Iran's death toll from the new coronavirus has increased to 988, with 135 new deaths in the past 24 hours, a health ministry spokesman told state TV on Tuesday.

"The death toll is 988 ... with 1,178 new infected people in the past 24 hours, now the total number of infected cases is 16,169 across the country," said Kianush Jahanpur, adding that 5,389 people infected with the virus have recovered.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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