Iran has urged its citizens to wear masks in public as it announced another 70 deaths from the novel coronavirus and 2,043 new cases of infection.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the latest figures took the overall toll to 8,351 dead out of a total of 173,832 people infected.

“Everybody must wear masks when attending places like stores or any other place where it is not possible to observe social distancing carefully,” he said on state television.