Iran's female MP dies of COVID-19 as death toll surges

Fatemeh Rahbar, a newly elected member of the Iranian Parliament, died from the novel coronavirus on Friday. 

Rahbar, 56, was one of the few female MPs in the Muslim majority country and she represented Tehran. She had spent two days in coma at a Tehran hospital.

It came a day after an



adviser to Iran's foreign minister died of the disease. Hossein Sheikholeslam was reported to be among the students who stormed the U.S. embassy in the 1979 hostage crisis. 

The coronavirus outbreak has reportedly claimed the lives of other senior politicians and government officials as the country scrambles to ease the lethal impact of the epidemic.

Iran has reported 4,747 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 124 deaths.

(Cover image: An Iranian woman wears a protective face mask, following the coronavirus outbreak, as she walks in Tehran, Iran, March 5, 2020.