TEHERAN (NYTIMES) - A senior figure in Iran's government, who sits just a few seats away from President Hassan Rouhani at Cabinet meetings, has fallen ill with coronavirus, making her Iran's seventh official to test positive, including one prominent cleric who has died.

Vice-President Masoumeh Ebtekar, Mr Rouhani's deputy for women's affairs and the highest-ranking woman in the government, has a confirmed coronavirus infection and is quarantined at home, her deputy said on Thursday (Feb 27).