“10,600 new beds will be added to the hospital capacity across the country,” Namaki said, addressing a ceremony in the Western city of Kermanshah.

He added that the health ministry also plans to increase the number of coronavirus tests from 45,000 to 100,000 in the next few weeks.

Namaki referred to certain reports on shortage of oxygen generators at hospitals which treat coronavirus patients, and said, “No place in the country will face lack of oxygen in the next two weeks.”

The Iranian health ministry announced on Monday that 10,463 new cases of coronavirus infection have been identified across the country during the past 24 hours, adding that 458 patients have passed away during the same period.

"10,463 new patients infected with COVID-19 have been identified in the country based on confirmed diagnosis criteria during the past 24 hours,” Iranian Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on Monday, and added, "3,574 patients have been hospitalized during the same time span.”

She added that the total number of COVID-19 patients has increased to 692,949.

“Unfortunately, 458 patients have lost their lives in the past 24 hours, increasing the number of the dead to 38,749," the spokeswoman noted.

Lari expressed satisfaction that 525,641 coronavirus patients have recovered or been discharged from hospitals so far.

The spokeswoman further said that 5,523 cases infected with COVID-19 are in critical conditions.

She went on to say that 5,263,173 coronavirus diagnosis tests have so far been carried out across the country.

Lari warned that 31 provinces are still marked red or in the status of alert.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had announced in September efforts to increase the number of hospital beds in medical centers amid the country’s hard battle against the coronavirus outbreak and US sanctions.

Inaugurating several important national projects through video conferencing, Rouhani said that by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2021) more than 10,000 beds will be added to the current capacity of hospitals across the country.