TEHRAN, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Iran's health ministry reported 8,404 daily COVID-19 cases on Thursday, raising the total nationwide infections to 1,665,103.

The pandemic has so far claimed 60,431 lives in Iran, up by 78 in the past 24 hours, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, during her daily briefing.

Of the newly infected, 709 were hospitalized, said Lari.

A total of 1,420,958 people have recovered from the disease and been discharged from hospitals, while 3,760 remain in intensive care units, she added.

According to the spokeswoman, 11,092,900 tests for the virus have been carried out in Iran as of Thursday.

Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19, 2020.