The Iranian military has set up a 2,000-bed hospital at an exhibition centre in the capital Tehran to shore up the local healthcare system as it battles the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East.
State TV said the new facility, which includes three units and several isolation wards, was set up in just 48 hours.
It will be used for patients who are recovering from the Covid-19 illness caused by the virus.
General Ali Jahanshahi, the army’s deputy coordinator, was quoted as saying the hospital has been handed over to medical staff and will begin receiving patients next week.
Iran is battling the worst outbreak in the Middle East, with more than 2,200 deaths among nearly 30,000 confirmed cases.
Authorities have urged people to stay at home but have not imposed the sweeping lockdowns seen elsewhere in the region.
Iranian officials have repeatedly insisted they have the outbreak under control despite concerns it could overwhelm the country’s health facilities.
Iran has been under severe US sanctions since President Donald Trump withdrew his country from Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers.
The US has offered humanitarian aid to Iran, but authorities have refused.
Earlier this week, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, refused American aid and seized on a conspiracy theory that the United States created the virus, something for which there is no scientific evidence.
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