Two people have died and 22 others were injured as they fled their homes in panic following a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that struck northern Iran on Friday.
Among the dead were a 21-year-old woman in Tehran who suffered heart failure, and a 60-year-old man in the city of Damavand, east of the capital, killed by a head injury, officials said.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the epicentre of the earthquake was at Damavand, just northeast of the capital, at the depth of 10km (6.2 miles). But it was felt in Tehran, Alborz, Qom, and Qazvin provinces.
There were several mild aftershocks, but no serious damage from the quake that struck after midnight on the border of the provinces of Tehran and Mazandaran, authorities said.
Officials also urged people who spent the night outdoors to observe social distancing to limit spread of the Coronavirus that has killed nearly 6,500 and infected more than 103,000 in Iran.
