Death toll in the country reaches 514; Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya confirm their first cases of the infection TEHRAN: Iranian forces will clear the streets nationwide within 24 hours and all citizens will be checked for the new coronavirus in a bid to halt its spread, the military said Friday. A newly formed commission has been charged with overseeing the “emptying of shops, streets and roads” within that time frame, armed forces chief of staff Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri said. “During the next 10 days, the entire Iranian nation will be monitored once through cyberspace, by phone and, if necessary, in person, and those suspected of being ill will be fully identified.” The measures were brought into force after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the armed forces to lead the battle against the new coronavirus. They are the most stringent to be imposed in Iran to combat what is the one of the world’s deadliest outbreaks of COVID-19 outside China. The country on Friday reported that the novel coronavirus claimed another 85 lives, its highest single-day toll since the first deaths were announced on Feb. 19. In all, the Health Ministry says 514 people have been killed by the illness out of 11,364 confirmed cases of infection. Several politicians and officials in the nation of 80 million people have been infected, with some dying from the illness. The latest suspected case of infection was Ali Akbar Velayati, who advises Iran’s supreme leader on foreign policy. Velayati fell ill with “mild symptoms” on Wednesday and has been placed in quarantine, according to Tasnim news agency. Separately, Sudan on Friday reported its first confirmed coronavirus case, a man who died on Thursday and had visited the UAE in the first week of March. The man, in his 50s, died in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Sudan on Thursday stopped visa issuance and flight services to eight countries including Italy and neighboring Egypt over fears of the coronavirus outbreak. Bus trips to Egypt have also been suspended. Kenya and Ethiopia also announced their first confirmed cases of coronavirus, as East Africa, which has so far been unscathed by the global pandemic, scaled up emergency measures to contain its spread. In Kenya, a 27-year-old Kenyan woman tested positive for the virus on Thursday in Nairobi, a week after returning from the US via London. She was in a stable condition and recovering, Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe told reporters. “We wish to assure all Kenyans that the government will use all the resources available to fight coronavirus,” he said, as the government rolled out a raft of new containment measures. The government had traced all the contacts of the patient since she arrived back in Kenya on March 5, he said. “At the moment, there is absolutely no need for panic and worry,” he said. Kenya, with a population of 50 million people, saw a spree of panic buying among the middle-class in Nairobi supermarkets, in the wake of the announcement. Meanwhile Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation with over 100 million people, said a 48-year-old Japanese man who had arrived in the country on March 4 from Burkina Faso was confirmed to have contracted the virus. “He is undergoing medical follow-up and is in a stable condition. Those who have been in contact with this person are being traced and quarantined,” the Health Ministry said in a statement. Burkina Faso only confirmed its first case on Tuesday — a couple returning from France — and the Japanese patient had been in that country since Feb. 24. Ethiopian Health Minister Lia Tadesse said three other patients were in isolation. Other countries in the region have been rolling out their own measures.