After confirming on Thursday that its 'official' death toll from the outbreak had reached 22 with 141 cases confirmed (lawmakers have claimed that the death toll as of Monday was up to 50 in Qom alone), Iranian state media reported that the country's vice president for women and family affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar has tested positive for the virus.

She is the third senior official to be infected, alongside the Deputy Health Minister and Cleric Hadi Khosroshahi, who succumbed to the pneumonia due to his advanced age.