TEHRAN — Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf declared on Wednesday that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Official news agency, KUNA, quoted Ghalibaf, who sequestered himself at his house after he knew of his infection, that he had undergone medical testing after one of his colleagues at his office had tested positive for coronavirus. He has added that he will proceed to fulfill his duties from home. The Iranian Ministry of Health declared on Tuesday the overall count of deaths due to the novel coronavirus claimed to 33,229 and the infection cases to 581,824. Iran is currently witnessed the third wave of the pandemic, amid noticeable increase in casualties. The nation has been among the hardest hit with the pandemic, which first broke out in China late last year. In Amman, COVID-19 killed 44 people in Jordan within the last 24 hours as the death toll stands at 668, and some 3,800 cases were recorded, bringing the caseload to 58,855, the Jordanian Ministry of Health (MoH) said Tuesday. In its daily briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jordanian MoH said that 2,253 cases were recorded in Amman, 562 in Zarqa, 383 in Irbid, 143 in Jerash, 89 in Tafilah, 87 in Karak, 76 in Mafraq, 62 in Aqaba, 47 in Maan, 44 in Balqa, 41 in Ajloun, 4 in Madaba. According to Petra, a total of 198 patients were admitted to hospitals as the total number of cases in hospitals surpasses 1,283, while the rest of active cases are self isolating. In its effort to combat the spread of the disease, the epidemiological tracing teams conducted 29,600 COVID-19 tests today, as the tally nears, 1.76 million, the MoH added. — SPA/KUNA