107-year-old Iranian woman beats coronavirus


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A 107-year-old Iranian woman who became infected with the novel coronavirus has recovered, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

The woman, Saltanat Akbari, was admitted to the Khansari hospital in the central city of Arak. She was discharged from the hospital after spending "some time" in isolation.

"She defeated the virus with the help of doctors and nurses at the hospital," Fars reported.

Iran is the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, with 133,521 cases and 7,359 deaths.

However, an official parliamentary report last month suggested the true number could be many times higher than the official toll due to issues with testing and a slow initial response.

Iran said last week that 10,000 doctors and nurses contracted the virus as it ravaged the country.

Coronavirus around the Middle East 

With restrictions on leaving the house and a mass mobilisation of the military and civilian medical services, Iran began bringing the daily increase in numbers down.

However, after bringing the number down to below 1,000 new cases a day, the numbers have again risen to close to 2,000 a day with outbreaks and pockets of the virus outside urban centres and in border provinces.

Ten out of Iran's 31 provinces are now in the virus "containment stage", said President Hassan Rouhani in a televised virus taskforce meeting.

This stage calls for intensified screening to "separate those infected from others", he added, claiming the ratio of deaths to infections has dropped steadily across Iran.

Despite the rise in new cases, Iran has moved to ease some restrictions. Mr Rouhani said museums and historical sites would reopen to the public on Sunday. Shrines would open on Monday.

He last week announced the limited reopening of holy sites after Eid Al Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.

The shrines would be open for only six hours a day while observing health protocols, he said at the time.

Iran in mid-March closed four main Shiite shrines including Imam Reza in Mashhad, Fatima Masumeh and Jamkaran mosques in Qom and Shah Abdol Azim in Tehran.

Rouhani added that all government employees working from home must return to their offices on May 30.

Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 1,869 new positive tests for coronavirus between Friday and Saturday had raised the country's tally to 133,521.

Ten provinces had reported no new deaths, while six declared one fatality each.

According to Mr Rouhani, 88 percent of Iran's Covid-19 victims were those with underlying health issues.

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Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

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