Iran’s Vice-President Masoumeh Ebtekar contracted the coronavirus on February 27, 2020.

The Middle Eastern country has recently been rocked by this epidemic.

Ebtekar is one of 254 people in Iran that has been infected with the virus. 26 Iranians have died so far during this epidemic.

The Independent notes that the vice-president is more famously known worldwide as the English-language spokeswoman for the hostage-takers who took over the American embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Iran’s deputy health minister also contracted the virus earlier this week, hours after an appearance during a press conference — where he looked visibly sick — in which he denied that the government was downplaying the scale of the outbreak.

On Thursday, Iran’s health minister revealed that coronavirus cases spiked by 106 during the last 24 hours.

Iran’s death toll due to the outbreak is higher than any country with the exception of China, the country where the epidemic started.

The outbreak caused Iranian leaders to cancel Friday prayers in Tehran. Health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur announced there were additional plans to place restrictions on sacred Islamic sites but the plan still “needs the approval of the president before being carried out”.

On state TV, Jahanpur urged Iranians to avoid “unnecessary trips inside the country”.

State news agency IRNA announced that Chinese citizens have been prohibited from entering the country. Other countries such as the U.S, Russia, South Korea and Australia have placed similar restrictions in an effort to halt the spread of coronavirus.

According to Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization’s Executive Director of Emergencies Programme, Iran’s 10 percent mortality rate, which is five times higher than China, is likely due to milder cases of the virus not being detected.