Iran reported a new single-day record death toll of 229 from the novel coronavirus, after weeks of rising numbers in the Middle East's worst-hit country, according to AFP.

“Sadly, we lost 229 of our compatriots to the Covid-19 infection in the past 24 hours,” health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said. “This raises the overall toll to 14,634,” she said in televised remarks.

Iran announced its previous record Covid-19 death toll of 221 on July 9.