Iranian President Hassan Rouhani cancelled a meeting of high government officials on Tuesday after one of the scheduled attendees reportedly was exposed to the novel coronavirus, the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya website reported quoting a semi-official Iranian news agency.

The meeting was to be hosted by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament. But Ghalibaf visited the Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran Monday night and potentially was exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, the Fars news agency reported in a Twitter post according to Al Arabiya.

Iran has the 13^th most reported confirmed cases of COVID-19, nearly 480,000, with the 10^th most reported deaths, more than 27,000, according to worldometers.info.

Its seven-day moving average of new daily cases has reached a high of 3,673, 22% above its previous peak set back on April 2.

Iran’s number of new daily confirmed infections has nearly doubled since early September.

The country’s Health Ministry said Monday that almost all of Iran was on a coronavirus red alert as cases and deaths climbed to their highest levels, with a member of the state task force's threatening field hospitals might be needed if the citizenry ignore regulations.

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