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Two people died and 22 were injured when they fled their homes in panic following an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 that struck northern Iran in the early hours of Friday, Reuters reported, citing state media.

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 urged people who spent the night outdoors to observe social distancing to limit spread of the coronavirus that has killed 6,486 and infected 103,135 in the middle eastern nation.

They assured the public there was no shortage of petrol as people rushed to gas stations to fill up after the quake.

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.