Iran urged its citizens to take social distancing “more seriously” as it announced more than 1,500 new cases of the coronavirus, according to AFP.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 55 new virus fatalities in the past 24 hours took the overall death toll to 6,541.

He said another 1,556 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus over the same period of time, taking the country's caseload to 104,691.

“We [Iranians] are urged to continue to follow health advice, especially social distancing, more seriously than on previous days and weeks,” Jahanpour said in televised remarks.