The Iranian Health Ministry has confirmed 10,403 COVID-19 infections and 284 deaths due to the respiratory disease in the past 24 hours.

Health Ministry Spokesperson Sima Lari made the announcement on Thursday, saying that the total coronavirus cases in the country have so far reached 1,083,023 with the death toll standing at 51,496.

According to Lari, 5,768 patients are in critical condition while 778,160 patients have recovered.

So far, over 6.56 million tests have been taken across the country to detect infected cases, she added.

According to the latest figures, more than 69.34�million people have so far been infected with the novel coronavirus globally, with the deaths reaching 1.57 million and recoveries amounting to over 48 million.