Hossein Sheikholeslam, 68, a veteran diplomat who was an adviser to Iranian foreign minister, died yesterday after nCoV infection.

Sheikholesman was admitted to Masih Daneshvari in Tehran after being identified with nCoV and died at the hospital yesterday, according to Iran's Fars news agency.

Sheikholesman, born in 1952, is a veteran Iranian diplomat. He graduated from the University of California in the US before the Iranian Islamic Revolution and also interrogated U.S. embassy staff in Tehran during the 1979 diplomatic crisis.

He worked as an advisor to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and at one time was Iranian ambassador to Syria, serving as assistant to the Iranian National Assembly chairman in foreign affairs.

This is the second senior Iranian official to die of Covid-19, after 71-year-old Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a member of the advisory board for the Iranian leader, died on March 2.

Many senior Iranian officials have been confirmed positive for nCoV, including Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar and Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi, head of the government's Covid-19 response force. Iran's national broadcaster previously quoted a congressman as saying that at least 23 members of parliament were infected with nCoV.

Iran is currently the fourth largest outbreak of Covid-19 in the world, after mainland China, South Korea and Italy. More than 3,500 Iranians have been infected with nCoV and 108 have died since the outbreak in Qom city in mid-February. Schools in the country were forced to close until at least March 20, during a number of events. was also postponed or canceled because of Covid-19.

The Iranian government also announced restrictions on travel between major cities and advised people to limit the use of paper money.