Iran president foresees virus relief, even as death toll tops 1,500

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday said authorities' efforts to combat the COVID-19 epidemic would produce significant results within 15 days, as the country's official death toll from the virus surpassed 1,500. There were 123 more fatalities -- taking the country's death toll to 1,556 -- and 966 more cases of the novel coronavirus reported in Iran over the past 24 hours, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour announced in a televised address. Despite the increasing toll, Rouhani said the government's response to the virus is producing "a lot of impact", indicating "the situation will change automatically within 10 to 15 days" if "everyone observes the directives", according to a statement by the presidency.

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