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More than 10,000 health care workers in Iran infected with coronavirus, official says

More than 100 health care workers have died from the virus in Iran, the epicenter of the pandemic in the Middle East.

TOPSHOT - An Iranian doctor works on the production of COVID-19 test kits at a medical center in Karaj, in the northern Alborz Province, on April 11, 2020. - Iran reported 125 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, raising the overall toll in the Middle East's worst-hit country to 4,357. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)
An Iranian doctor works on the production of COVID-19 test kits at a medical center in Karaj, in the northern Alborz Province, on April 11, 2020. — ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Some 10,000 health care workers in Iran have been infected with the coronavirus, Iranian news agencies reported Thursday.  

The semi-official ISNA news outlet quoted Deputy Health Minister Qassem Janbabaei who confirmed the estimate. The Health Ministry had previously acknowledged more than 100 health care workers had died from the virus.  

“It is also an honor to live in a country where the educated medical community and medical staff are doing what our young people did at the beginning of the revolution,” Janbabaei said. 

On Thursday, Iran recorded 2,392 more cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total to 129,341 and 7,249 deaths. On Monday, Iran recorded its biggest single-day rise in COVID-19 cases in six weeks.  

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