Iran said its novel coronavirus death toll surpassed 1,000 on Wednesday as President Hassan Rouhani defended the response of his administration, which has yet to impose a lockdown.
The COVID-19 outbreak in sanctions-hit
Iran is one of the deadliest for any country outside
China, where the disease originated.
Rouhani's government reported another 147 deaths -- a record high for a single day in the month since it announced the emergence of the disease.