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Iran's official novel coronavirus fatalities crossed the 33,000 mark on Tuesday, the health ministry said, as the country set new records in both daily deaths and infection cases.

Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said Iran had registered 346 new fatalities in the past 24 hours, raising the total to 33,299.

The previous of 337 deaths was reached last week, and was matched again on Monday.

Lari said 6,968 people tested positive for the virus on Tuesday, almost 800 more than the previous record set two days before.

The new infections bring officially reported COVID-19 cases in the Middle East's worst-hit country to 581,824.

Deaths and infections from the novel coronavirus have been on a rising trajectory in the Islamic republic, which has recorded several new highs since September.