Coronavirus: Iran announces more than 100 new deaths
Iran has announced a further 123 deaths from coronavirus in the country, bringing the death toll to 1,556.
Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on Saturday that 966 more cases had been confirmed over the past 24 hours, with 20,610 people now known to have been infected in Iran.
The latest figures were released shortly after Iranians began to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year which ushers in a two-week holiday during which Iran's roads are normally filled with people visiting family.
Authorities had urged the public to avoid family visits or days out this year to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
But footage aired by state television showed hundreds of vehicles pouring out of Tehran on Thursday evening.
Remote sensors installed at tollbooths checked the body temperatures of motorists and their passengers, but there was no mass stay-home as called for by the authorities.
Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi defended Iran's reluctance to resort to the sort of "coercive powers" granted to police in France and Italy to force people off the streets.
He said checkpoints had been set up around major cities to test suspected cases and that those found positive were being sent home to self-quarantine.
This contrasted with earlier guidance from the government which had said that anyone suspected of having Covid-19 would be quarantined.
In holiday messages broadcast on Friday, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised that Iran would overcome the outbreak.
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