TEHRAN: Ayatollah Hashem Bathayi, Golpayeganim, 78, an important religious and political leader, has died after contracting the coronavirus. He had tested positive for the virus two days ago.
His passing takes the total deaths of Iranian government officials from Covid-19 to 12. The countrywide toll is now 724 dead.
State media of Iran reported the death of Ayatollah Hashem Bathayi Golpayeganim, 78, on Monday, taking the death toll among serving and ex-officials to at least 12. Golpayegani died two days after testing positive for the COVID-19 disease and being hospitalised.
The official represented Tehran in the Assembly of Experts, an 88-strong body of clerics that appoints and monitors Iran’s supreme leader.
Besides Ayatollah Hashem, 12 Iranian politicians and officials, both sitting and former, have now died of the illness, and 13 more have been infected and are either in quarantine or being treated.
The virus also killed a prominent economist and political activist on Monday, according to the semi-official news agency ISNA.
Fariborz Rais-Dana, 71, succumbed to the illness after being hospitalised for six days, ISNA reported.
A prolific writer with a PhD from the London School of Economics, he had spent time in prison after being convicted of spreading propaganda against the system.
Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a member of the Expediency Council which is hand-picked by the Supreme Leader of Iran, died aged 71 after falling sick with .coronavirus. In this picture he is seated alongside two other officials, including Ali Akbar Velayti.
Hossein Sheikholeslam, an aide of Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif,is another senior official to die from coronavirus.
Iran has been scrambling to contain the rapid spread of coronavirus which so far has infected nearly 14,000 people and killed over 720, according to official figures.
The number of coronavirus deaths and infections have been on the rise ever since the first two fatalities were announced on February 19.
According to the health ministry, the rising trend is due to the increasing number of tests being carried out.
Iranian firefighters disinfect streets in an effort to halt the wild spread of coronavirus in Tehran. Iran has been scrambling to contain the rapid spread of coronavirus which so far has infected nearly 14,000 people and killed over 720, according to official figures.
Official tolls, which are given every 24 hours, have usually lagged behind reports by local media and have sometimes been contradicted by provincial authorities.
Iran is yet to impose a lockdown but it has temporarily closed parliament, barred pilgrims from gathering at a holy tomb and postponed the second round of legislative elections.
Officials have repeatedly urged citizens to stick to guidelines and stay at home to stop the coronavirus from spreading.
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