Iranian Health Ministry Spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV on Tuesday that the country's death toll caused by the novel coronavirus rose by 71 in the past 24 hours.
The new number has raised the total of deaths to 5,877 so far.
Iran, one of the Middle Eastern countries hit hardest by COVID-19 has 92,584 diagnosed cases, Jahanpur said, Reuters reported.
Iranians should be cautious but not afraid of the coronavirus, President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday as the country eases restrictions in an attempt to return to normal life.
“Excessive fear, excessive anxiety, excessive worrying is worse than this corona itself and this virus and can really break up people’s lives and take away people’s comfort,” he said, according to the official presidency website.
“But at the same time, we shouldn’t be careless, meaning there must not be excessive anxiety and worrying and there must be necessary caution.”
Iranians have returned to shops, bazaars and parks over the past week as the country eases coronavirus restrictions, with the daily increase in the death toll below 100 since April 14.
Seeking a balance between protecting public health and shielding an economy already battered by sanctions, the government has refrained from imposing the kind of wholesale lockdowns on cities seen in many other countries.
Health officials have warned that the easing of restrictions could lead to a new wave of infections and state TV in recent days has featured interviews where people on the street are questioned why they are not using masks and gloves.
Separately, an Iranian official revealed earlier on Monday that the false belief that toxic methanol cures the coronavirus has seen over 700 people killed in Iran.
Adviser to the ministry Hossein Hassanian said that the difference in death tallies is because some alcohol poisoning victims died outside of hospital.
“Some 200 people died outside of hospitals”, he told The Associated Press (AP).
The national coroner's authority said that alcohol poisoning killed 728 Iranians between Feb. 20 and April 7.
Last year there were only 66 deaths from alcohol poisoning, according to the report.
AP also reported Jahanpour as saying that 525 people have died from swallowing toxic methanol alcohol since Feb. 20.
According to Jahanpour, a total of 5,011 people had been poisoned from methanol alcohol, while some 90 people have lost their eye sight or are suffering eye damage from the alcohol poisoning.
