Tehran, Apr 20 (IANS): Iran has begun taking new measures to screen and to test people for COVID-19, President Hassan Rouhani said.
"With the beginning of new screening methods in the provinces, people close to those infected with the coronavirus will also be tested," Rouhani said on Sunday at a meeting of the National Headquarters for Managing and Fighting the Coronavirus.
He expressed the hope that "this important step brings us closer to containing the disease", Xinhua news agency.
THe President also thanked Iranian medical personnel's efforts, expressing satisfaction with a slowdown in the number of hospitalized and infected cases as well as the fatalities in the country, which was once the worst-hit nation in the Middle East.
Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education has confirmed a total of 82,211 COVID-19 cases and 5,118 deaths.