Tehran: An Iranian lawmaker, Iran’s Deputy Health Minister and the Iranian Vice-President for women and family affairs have tested positive for the deadly coronavirus which has infected a total of 245 people with 26 fatalities in the country.

“I give this message (of being affected by the virus) while I am less hopeful about staying alive,” Xinhua news agency quoted lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi as saying to the local media on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Alireza Vahabzadeh, advisor for the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said the country’s Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi also tested positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, reports have also come in that Masoumeh Ebtekar, Iranian vice president for women and family affairs, has been infected with coronavirus, according to the Associated Press.

Mohammad Reza Qadir, president of Qom Medical Sciences University, has also been tested positive.

Kianush Jahanpur, head of Public Relations and Information Centre of Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said that Iran has increased the number of laboratories for testing the virus infection to seven. These will be increased to 22 in the following week, Xinhua reported.

Iran announced the first cases of viral infection in the central Qom city on February 18.

India cancels all flight services to Iran

India’s civil aviation regulator has cancelled all flight operations to and from Iran due to the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.

According to a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official, all flights to and from Iran have been cancelled.

At present, only Mahan Air and Iran Air operate flight services between India and Iran.