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Iran’s health ministry on Thursday said 117 new deaths from the novel coronavirus took the total to 4,110 in one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic.

But ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the latest figures showed there was a downward trend in the number of new coronavirus infections.

“Today we are clearly seeing a decline in the number of new cases,” Jahanpour said in a televised news conference. “We have identified 1,634 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 66,220.”

The spokesman praised the people of Iran for following guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

“We owe the reduction in the number of cases of the disease to… our beloved people, as well as to the intervention of our colleagues in the health system,” said Jahanpour.

“In the past 24 hours we have lost 117 people. We have had a total of 4,110 deaths due to the COVID-19 disease.”

Iranian women, members of the paramilitary Basij organisation, make face masks and other protective items at a mosque in the capital Tehran, amid the coronavirus pandemic crisis, April 5, 2020. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran, which announced its first coronavirus cases on February 19, is by far the worst hit by the pandemic in the Middle East, according to official tolls.

But there has been speculation abroad that the real number of deaths and infections in the country could be higher. Opposition sources in the country have claimed that the real toll could be as much as four times higher.

In response to the health crisis, Iran shut schools and universities as well as cinemas, stadiums and holy Shiite Muslim shrines.

Authorities have repeatedly appealed to the public to refrain from gatherings, especially over the Persian New Year holidays that ended last week.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday flagged a gradual reopening of “low-risk” businesses within the next week.

But authorities have yet to specify which businesses qualify for the first phase of measures aimed at protecting Iran’s sanctions-hit economy.

The parliament, or Majles, convened on Tuesday for the first time since the outbreak forced its closure on February 25. At least 31 of the legislature’s 290 members have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday called on Iranians to pray at home during the upcoming Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

“In the absence of public gatherings during Ramadan, such as prayers, speeches… which we are deprived of this year, we should not neglect worship, invocation and humility in our loneliness,” he said in a televised speech. “We need to create humility and supplication in our families and in our rooms.”

Ramadan is set to start in the last week of April this year.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

The national death toll from the coronavirus pandemic rose to 94 Friday, with six new deaths reported by the Health Ministry, as Israel’s number of confirmed cases surpassed 10,000.

Meanwhile, officials reported 127 new diagnosed cases, putting the updated national number at 10,095. Of those cases, 164 were in serious condition, with 125 on ventilators. Another 178 people were in moderate condition, with the rest having mild symptoms. And 1,061 have recovered from the illness.

Two of the dead were women, 86 and 84 years old, who had been hospitalized at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center. The hospital said they had both suffered from complex preexisting conditions. The two were residents of the same assisted living facility in Jerusalem.

Two woman, in their 80s, died at Laniado Hospital in Netanya. One 90-year-old man, a resident of an old-age home in the northern town of Yavne’el, died at the Hillel Yaffe Hospital in Hadera. Another woman, Lea Schwartz, 85, died at a geriatric hospital in Jaffa.

The novel coronavirus has been spreading quickly in nursing homes around the country, raising intense concern for the safety of elderly residents. The Health Ministry said Thursday it was conducting tests over Passover at assisted living facilities where there have been confirmed COVID-19 cases, adding that 3,000 tests were expected to be performed on each of the coming days.

Almost all of those who have died from COVID-19 in Israel have been elderly and suffered from preexisting conditions, according to hospital officials.

While the death toll has continued to steadily climb, experts have pointed to the relatively slow rise in the number of patients on ventilators as a source of potential encouragement.

Putting a dent in the optimism, health officials are projecting that Israel will fall short of testing 10,000 people a day for the coronavirus in the immediate term because of a shortage of a key reagent.

A national lockdown barring intercity travel came into effect Tuesday ahead of the Passover holiday and was lifted Friday morning. Separately, a curfew was maintained over the first night of the holiday on Wednesday, to prevent further spread of the virus, and lifted at 7 a.m. on Thursday morning.