Iran has surpassed 20,000 officially confirmed deaths from the coronavirus, the highest number in the Middle East region, amid suspicions that real fatalities from the disease may be much higher.

The announcement by the country’s health ministry came as the Islamic Republic, which has been struggling with both the region’s largest outbreak and the highest number of fatalities, went ahead with university entrance exams for over 1 million students and in advance of Ashoura, the major Shia religious festival.

Iran suffered the region’s first major outbreak, seeing top politicians, health officials and religious leaders stricken with the virus. It has since struggled to contain the spread of the virus across this nation of 80 million people, initially beating it back only to see it surge again beginning in June.

Still, international experts remain suspicious of Iran’s case counts. Even researchers in the Iranian parliament in April suggested the death toll is likely nearly double the officially reported figures, due to undercounting and because not everyone with breathing problems has been tested for the virus.

On Wednesday, Iran reported over 350,200 confirmed cases, with 20,125 deaths, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said.

On Monday, a society of clerics said the Ashoura should go ahead under any circumstances, while still demanding that participants follow health guidance measures.

The new Iranian tally was revealed as Pope Francis appealed to rich countries to not hoard any potential coronavirus vaccine, instead making it widely available for the “common good”.

“It would be sad if the rich are given priority for the Covid-19 vaccine. It would be sad if the vaccine becomes property of this or that nation if it is not universal and for everyone,” Francis said at his weekly general audience.

While countries have taken differing approaches, Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison promised on Wednesday to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine to the Pacific and some South-East Asian countries if Australia secures a supply of working drugs. He backtracked after announcing he would make a potential Covid-19 vaccine “mandatory”, saying instead it would be “encouraged”.

The latest figures from Iran came as South Korea’s health ministry warned that the country is facing a “desperately dangerous crisis” of spreading coronavirus, after the country reported its highest daily rise in cases since early March.

On Wednesday officials asked people in Seoul, the capital, to stay at home if they could, warning that testing and tracing and isolation measures were insufficient to stop the spread of the virus.

The 297 new infections mark the sixth straight day of triple-digit increases in a country that has managed to blunt several previous outbreaks, according to Reuters. The national tally rose to 16,058 infections with 306 deaths, according to data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The vice health minister, Kim Gang-lip, told a briefing: “We’re in a desperately dangerous crisis where infections are spreading in the Seoul metropolitan area and threatening to lead to a massive nationwide transmission.

“The government cannot contain the current spread only with tracing and isolation … please stay home unless you must go out.”

South Korea, like numerous countries facing resurgences in the virus, is seeking ways to to limit spread of the persistent virus.

In France, Toulouse become the first major city to make masks compulsory outdoors in a bid to halt the quickening spread of the coronavirus. Toulouse is France’s fourth-largest city and officials there fear that a mass movement of people as the summer break draws to a close will lead to a rise in infections.

Finland has also said it would bring back travel restrictions for several countries that it had for months considered safe destinations, including Germany and its Nordic neighbours, to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Travelling from Iceland, Greece, Malta, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Cyprus, San Marino and Japan to Finland would be limited to essential trips from 24 August, with people returning from those countries required to self-quarantine for two weeks, the interior minister, Maria Ohisalo, said.

Before Wednesday’s announcement, Finland had restricted travelling to and from most other countries around the world.