Iran announced 3,574 new coronavirus infections Thursday, its highest daily count since the outbreak began in February.

It was the fourth straight day that the daily caseload had topped 3,000. The previous high was 3,186, recorded on March 30, at the height of the initial outbreak. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said that the surge in new cases might be the result of wider testing rather than a second wave of infection.

He said that Iran had now conducted more than a million tests. But the health ministry has been taking no chances and has stepped up a public health campaign in recent days reminding people to protect themselves and observe social distancing. The ministry spokesman said 59 people had died of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, taking Iran's overall official toll to 8,071. A total of 164,270 people have tested positive for the virus.