The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Minister of Health, Saeed Namaki, announced that all schools and universities in the country will be closed until the end of this Persian year (March 19). With the two weeks of new year holidays, the schools and universities will be closed for about a month.

In the “National Coronavirus Crisis Management Taskforce” meeting on Thursday, Namaki also announced that the national exams for master’s and Ph.D. levels have also been postponed.

While referring to the report from the Minister of Roads and Transportation about the increased number of cars in the streets and roads of the country, Namaki said: “Taking trips during these holidays is dangerous because infected people could take the disease to another area or healthy people could enter an infected zone.”

He added that the police and Basij will help them to test the travelers on roads and “if we see a suspicious case, we will quarantine it.”

While according to Iran International’s reliable sources, the death toll of COVID-19 is currently at 503, the Ministry of Health has reported only 107 dead and 3513 infected.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health claimed on Thursday that 591 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the country.

Jahanpour added that the last province of the country where coronavirus had not been spotted, was Bushehr province, which has now identified three cases.

The numbers reported by the Ministry of Health have even been challenged by other officials and members of parliament.