A Tehran Municipality worker cleans a bus to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 illness on February 26, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

Iran on Thursday confirmed three more deaths from novel coronavirus, taking the total to 22, the highest toll outside China, state media reported.

Publishing a map showing the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran, the IRNA state news agency said that 141 people had been infected by the virus, without specifying whether that figure included the 22 dead.