Nov 24 : The total number of Covid-19 infections confirmed in Iran rose on Monday to 866,821, after registering 12,460 new cases in the past 24 hours. Sima Sadat Lari, the spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said at her daily briefing that the pandemic has claimed 45,255 lives in Iran as of Monday, after an overnight registration of 453 more deaths, the Xinhua news agency reported. She added that 610,406 Covid-19 patients have recovered or been released from Iranian hospitals, but 5,812 infected remain in critical condition in intensive care units. As of Monday, 5,828,307 laboratory tests for Covid-19 have been carried out in Iran, she further noted. The risk of infection is currently high in 27 out of 31 Iranian provinces, the spokeswoman went on to say. Iran announced its first cases of Covid-19 on February 19. /IANS