UPDATE 1-More coronavirus cases in Iran's Qom; religious gatherings under threat

Iranian health officials urged all religious gatherings to be suspended in Qom, news agency ISNA said on Thursday after two more people tested positive for the coronavirus in the holy city, where two died of it this week.

In all, three more people had tested positive for the virus, an Iranian health ministry spokesman said. "Two people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Qom and one person in Arak, bringing the total of confirmed cases to five in Iran," spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said in a tweet.

Jahanpur said all patients were Iranian and the person in the central city of Arak was a doctor from Qom, the semi-official news agency ISNA reported. Jahanpur said health officials had called for the suspension of all religious gatherings in Qom, a Shi'ite Muslim holy city about 120 km (75 miles) south of the capital Tehran, according to ISNA.

Two Iranians died in hospital after testing positive in Qom, the head of the city's University of Medical Sciences said on Wednesday.

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