TEHRAN, Iran, March 10, (Agencies): Iran said Tuesday that the new coronavirus (COVID-19) had killed 54 more people, raising the death toll to 291 amid 8,042 cases in the Islamic Republic. Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour made the announcement in a televised news conference.

It represented an 18 percent increase in deaths from the day before and 12 percent more confirmed cases. Iran is the hardest-hit country in the Mideast by the new coronavirus and the COVID-19 illness it causes. Across the region, there are over 8,600 confirmed cases of the virus. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

A rumor circulating in Iran that alcohol can treat coronavirus has so far led to 37 deaths and sent 270 people to the hospital after being poisoned by bootleg alcohol, the state-run IRNA news agency said Tuesday. Alcoholic beverages are illegal in Iran, but homemade brews in the southern city of Ahvaz apparently substituted toxic methanol for ethanol and used bleach to mask the color, said Heath Ministry official Ali Ehsanpour. Seven bootleggers have been identified and arrested, said Ali Beiranvand, the deputy prosecutor in Ahvaz.