Iran confirmed on Monday 119 new deaths from the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 9,742.

A further 2,573 people tested positive for COVID-19, raising the overall count to 207,525, Health Ministry spokesman Sima Sadat Lari said.

He said a total of 166,428 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far, adding that 2,898 remain at hospitals in critical condition.

There are more than 8.96 million confirmed infections globally and an excess of 468,500 deaths, with over 4.44 million recoveries.