Iran put its armed forces on alert on Tuesday to assist health officials in battling the new coronavirus outbreak that has killed at least 77 people, sickened top officials and pushed the country’s supreme leader into wearing disposable gloves while trying to reassure the nation.

Even as government officials sit metres away from each other at meetings now in an effort to stop its spread, the virus is ravaging both its civilian leadership and its Shia theocracy.

A top emergency official and at least 23 MPs reportedly contracted the virus and now suffer from the COVID-19 illness it causes.

There are now over 2,540 cases of the new virus across West Asia, with 2,336 in Iran alone. Of those outside Iran in the region, most link back to the Islamic Republic.

Experts worry Iran’s percentage of deaths to infections, now around 3.3 per cent, is much higher than other countries, suggesting the number of infections in Iran may be far greater than current figures show.

Meanwhile, a gloved Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sought to minimise the virus while praising the doctors and nurses combating the outbreak. He urged the nation to pray.

“This disaster, in our opinion, is not such a big disaster, there have been and there are bigger disasters than this. Of course I don’t want to downplay the issue, but let’s not exaggerate it much either. Something has happened, it will exist in the country for a time, which hopefully will be short, and then it will go away,” Khamenei said.

Worldwide, the virus has infected 90,000 people and caused 3,100 deaths.

The death of Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi on Monday makes him the highest-ranking official within Iran’s leadership to be killed by the virus. State media referred to him as a confidant of Khamenei.

The virus earlier killed Hadi Khosroshahi, Iran’s former ambassador to the Vatican, as well as a recently elected MP. Ahmad Tuyserkani, an adviser to Iran’s judiciary chief, died on Monday night from the virus, semi-official media reported.