TEHRAN — Iran’s coronavirus death toll rose by 116 to 23,029, a health ministry spokeswoman told state TV on Saturday.

The total number of identified cases spiked by 2,139 in the last 24 hours to 399,940 in one of the Middle East's worst-hit countries, Sima Sadat Lari was quoted as saying.

She said the high-risk “red” zones include Tehran, Qom, Mazandaran, East Azarbaijan, Isfahan, Yazd, Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan, Semnan, Gilan, Zanjan, Qazvin, and Kerman provinces.

The “orange” zones also include Lorestan, Ardabil, Golestan, Markazi, Alborz, Hormozgan, Ilam, Fars, Bushehr, West Azarbaijan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kermanshah, South Khorasan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, and Khuzestan provinces, she added.

Last week, schools in Iran reopened to 15 million students after a seven-month closure despite concerns over increased spread of the novel coronavirus in the country. — Agencies