Already struggling under sanctions and political pressure, Iran was already vulnerable before the virus started to spread.
Citing anonymous sources in the Iranian health system, the BBC put Iran’s coronavirus death toll at 210. Iran disputed the number and accused the BBC of lying. Iran's Health Ministry has put the death toll at 54.
While scrambling to contain the outbreak, Tehran has also been hit by a crisis of confidence after an official appointed to head a national coronavirus task force had to step down after contracting the illness himself. A number of high-ranking officials have since tested positive for the virus; an MP died on Saturday morning from what Iranian authorities have claimed was the ‘flu’.
There have been more than 83,000 reported cases of Covid-19 worldwide and 2,800 deaths since the disease emerged late last year - the vast majority of which have been in China.
In a bid to stifle the spread of the virus, Friday prayers in Tehran and 22 other cities were cancelled, and schools and universities closed.
Kamal Moradi, 38, a street vendor and father of two, has seen his income slashed. Despite his young age, grinding poverty has turned his hair completely white.
"I am more worried about my economic situation than corona," Moradi told Rudaw English.
“As Newroz [Kurdish New Year on March 21] nears, we were making four million tomans [$320) through our sales per day. It has now dropped to 700,000 tomans ($56)," he said.
"Last month, I could not pay my rent. This month, I will have to pay double. And you see no one is out to buy anything. Over the past four days, I have just made 100,000 tomans ($8)," he added.
"There is now absolutely no glimmer of hope for the situation to improve at all. It gets worse day by day. People are terrified. No one dares to come out. Even if they do, they just buy the essentials," he added.
With tensions between the US and Iran at an all-time high, State Department officials seized on the opportunity to accuse the Iranian government of negligence regarding the outbreak.
"If we can help the Iranians with this problem, we are certainly willing to do so... All they have to do is ask," Trump said at CPAC.
Iraq's Kurdistan Region has shuttered its borders with Iran, cutting off a key trade lifeline to the country. Several countries have canceled flights, and have stepped up checks on travelers who have recently been to Iran.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday that 97 cases across Canada, New Zealand, Georgia, Belarus and seven other countries have traced confirmed cases of Covid-19, the deadly coronavirus strain currently spreading like wildfire across international borders, back to individuals who recently traveled to Iran.