TEHRAN, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday said that people should minimize all their trips to help government to contain the COVID-19 epidemic, official IRNA news agency reported.
Speaking in the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Rouhani said these days, people are dealing with new problem which has been unprecedented over the past decades in Iran as well as in other countries.
He called for the change of lifestyle and urged to take the novel coronavirus issue seriously.
The Iranian president said that his administration, medical centers and the Iranian armed forces are involved in the battle against the disease.
Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education announced Wednesday that a total of 9,000 people have been affected by the disease, of whom 354 people have died.
Iran announced the first cases of the virus infection in the central city of Qom on Feb. 19.
A team comprising five experts from the Red Cross Society of China arrived in Tehran on Feb. 29. The medical team met with the Iranian Red Crescent Society to discuss how to prevent and control the spread of the virus in the country.
