TEHRAN, March 27 (Xinhua) -- At least 80 inmates escaped from a prison in Saqqez city in Iran's western province of Kurdistan on Friday, semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The riot erupted amid the concerns about the raging novel coronavirus pandemic in the country, the report said.
On March 19, at least 20 inmates escaped from a prison in the city of Khorramabad, the capital of Lorestan province.
Iran's judiciary has already freed 85,000 prisoners amid the concerns about the spread of COVID-19, a highly infectious disease.
Iran is one of the hardest-hit countries by the novel coronavirus, with the total number of infections reaching 32,332 on Friday, of whom 2,378 have died.
