Tehran parliamentarian Fatemeh Rahbar, one of the 26 members of the Iranian parliament who were infected with coronavirus, has lost her life.

The 55-year-old newly elected MP has died on Saturday in the Masih Danishvari Hospital in Tehran where she had been receiving treatment.

Rahbar was a member of the Islamic Coalition Party, a conservative political party. She had been elected as a representative for the residents of Tehran in the recent parliamentary elections.

She is the second lawmaker killed by the virus in Iran and one of seven politicians and government officials who have died in the outbreak since the country reported its first cases in mid-February.

On March 2, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the death of Seyed Mohammad Mir-Mohammadi, a member of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council, a body that advises Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Several high-ranking officials, including the deputy health minister and five lawmakers, have tested positive for the coronavirus as the spread of the outbreak forced the government to call on people to stay at home.

Iran's deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, and another member of parliament, Mahmoud Sadeghi, have also said they have contracted the virus.

The number of deaths from coronavirus in Iran continues to increase every day. 21 more people have died of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 1,076 more people have been confirmed infected.

Iran’s Health Ministry announced on Saturday that the number of people who have died from the coronavirus in the country has risen to 145 and the total number of confirmed cases to 5,823.

Iran has closed schools and universities, suspended major cultural and sporting events and reduced working hours across the country to slow the contagion, which has spread to all of its 31 provinces.