Iran has temporarily released approximately 70,000 prisoners due to the coronavirus outbreak, Iranian judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday, according to Mizan, the news site of the judiciary.
There were 49 new fatalities in Iran, where some 194 people have now died from COVID-19.
In Italy, where some 16 million people in Lombardy and other parts of the north are now under quarantine, there were 133 deaths reported on Sunday, bringing the total to 366. More than 7,000 people in the country have been confirmed to have the virus.
China reported 40 new confirmed cases on Sunday, compared with 44 the day before. That is the lowest number since the National Health Commission started publishing national data on January 20.
Outside Hubei province, where the virus originated late last year, China reported no new locally transmitted cases for the second straight day.
New infections in South Korea also appear to be slowing.
There is no indication as to when the prisoners would be back in jail.
Aljazeera
English 
