Tehran: Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar, has tested positive for the coronavirus. Speaking to Iran's official IRNA news agency, Ebtekar's adviser Fariba Ibtihaj said the vice president tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. Iran announced the first cases of viral infection in the central Qom city on February 18.

"Everyone in the vice president's team was also tested and the results will be available on Saturday," she said.

Coronavirus epidemic in Iran has cost 26 lives, the health ministry announced Thursday, with a vice president becoming the latest top official to be infected as the spread appeared to accelerate.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told a news conference that the tally of infections had risen to 245 with 106 more cases confirmed - highest number for a single day since Iran announced its first infections on February 19.

The Islamic republic has the highest death toll from the virus outside China, where COVID-19 first emerged.

On Thursday, India's civil aviation regulator has cancelled all flight operations to and from Iran due to the outbreak of coronavirus in the country. According to a Directorate General of Civil Aviation official, all flights to and from Iran have been cancelled.

At present, only Mahan Air and Iran Air operate flight services between India and Iran.

China reported 44 more deaths from the novel coronavirus epidemic on Friday and 327 fresh cases, the lowest daily figure for new infections in more than a month. The death toll now stands at 2,788 in mainland China, according to the National Health Commission.

In total, 78,824 people have now been infected with the COVID-19 strain in the mainland.

(With agency inputs)