Advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader quarantined on coronavirus suspicion

The foreign policy advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been quarantined with a suspected case of infection with the new coronavirus.

Ali Akbar Velayati has shown symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, and has been quarantined by his doctors as a precaution, local media reports said on Friday.

However, he is doing well, the doctors reportedly explained.

Velayati is one of the most important advisors to the Supreme Leader and is viewed as an influential politician in Iran.

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He is also the director of the Masih Daneshvari Hospital, where primarily patients with coronavirus are being treated.

So far at least eight Iranian officials have died after being infected with the virus, including another advisor to the leader, Seyyed Mohammad Mirmohammadi. At least 14 other officials have tested positive.

Iran has the third largest outbreak of the virus behind China and Italy and, according to the Ministry of Health, the number of deaths has risen to 429 and the number of infections recorded has risen to more than 10,000. (dpa)