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Nearly three dozen Iranian government officials and members of parliament are infected and a senior adviser to the supreme leader has died. The Health Ministry has proposed sending 300,000 militia members door-to-door on a desperate mission to sanitize homes. The top prosecutor has warned that anyone hoarding face masks and other public health equipment risks the death penalty. (Fassihi and Kirkpatrick, 3/3)

The global spread of novel coronavirus has hit Iran hard. Nearly two dozen members of the nation’s parliament as well as its director of emergency services are infected with the illness, and a third government official died from the virus Tuesday. (Sayah, 3/3)

New accounts of coronavirus infections in Iran’s prisons have alarmed Western hostage negotiators seeking to ensure the safety of American and European detainees in the country’s notoriously cramped and unsanitary facilities, according to diplomats. The spread of the virus in Iran, the epicenter of the outbreak in the Middle East, poses a daunting challenge for Western negotiators, given the array of medical challenges the detainees already face and strained diplomatic relationships with the Iranian regime. (Hudson, 3/3)

Iran will temporarily release 54,000 people from prisons as officials struggle to contain the rapid spread of the biggest coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East. Iran has reported 77 deaths, one of the highest confirmed death tolls outside of China. It has also reported 2,336 positive cases. The ministry is also activating a nationwide team of 300,000 health workers and specialists, Deputy Health Minister Ali Reza Reisy told Iran's semi-official ILNA news agency. (Mostaghim, Tawfeeq and Dewan, 3/4)

The International Olympic Committee stridently doubled down on its stance that the coronavirus will not affect the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, even after a Japanese official raised the possibility of a postponement during a government hearing. The IOC Executive Board, holding a scheduled meeting at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, released a statement Tuesday expressing “full commitment to the success” of the Tokyo Olympics taking place from July 24 to Aug. 9 as originally planned. (Kilgore, 3/3)

The World Health Organization's (WHO's) director-general today warned that shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gowns are masks could leave frontline health workers unprotected from the COVID-19 virus, which comes as the epicenter shifts from China to three nations on three different continents. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said China over the past day reported its lowest number of new cases of the novel coronavirus disease since Jan 20. Of nearly 2,000 cases reported in the rest of the world yesterday, though, 80% were from South Korea, Iran, and Italy. (Schnirring, 3/3)

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday warned of a global shortage and price gouging for protective equipment to fight the fast-spreading coronavirus and asked companies and governments to increase production by 40% as the death toll from the respiratory illness mounted. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Tuesday in an emergency move to try to prevent a global recession and the World Bank announced $12 billion to help countries fight the coronavirus, which has taken a heavy toll on air travel, tourism and other industries, threatening global economic growth prospects. (3/4)

A sharp economic slowdown in China caused by the coronavirus epidemic is putting new pressure on the country’s labor market, as businesses struggling to maintain or revive operations resort to pay cuts and layoffs—or simply shut down. More job cuts could further depress consumer spending and weaken an economy that is already projected to slow significantly or contract in the first quarter. (Zie, 3/4)

When it comes to the spiraling global coronavirus outbreak, scientists are still trying to pin down the answer to a basic question: How deadly is this virus? Estimates have varied widely. For instance, at a Feb. 24 news conference in Beijing, a top Chinese health official, Liang Wannian, said the fatality rate for COVID-19 was quite high. (Aizenman, 3/3)

The World Bank on Tuesday announced an initial $12 billion in immediate funds to assist countries grappling with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus virus outbreak that has spread quickly from China to some 80 countries. World Bank President David Malpass said there were still "many unknowns" about the fast-spreading virus and "much more" aid might be required, but he declined to elaborate. (3/3)

South Korea reported 516 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday as thousands of sick people waited for hospital beds in Daegu, the city at the center of the worst outbreak outside mainland China. The new cases bring South Korea's total to 5,328, with at least 32 deaths, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said. (3/4)

One infectious-disease doctor said coronavirus had hit "like a tsunami" at his hospital, where more than 100 out of 120 people admitted with the virus have also developed pneumonia. Another hospital nearby is facing staff shortages as doctors have become patients. Doctors, virologists and health-care officials on the front line of Italy’s battle against coronavirus, in more than a dozen interviews, described a health-care system stretched to its limits — a situation other countries may face as the virus spreads. (Morris, 3/3)