Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband believes she has caught coronavirus in Iranian prison

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband fears she has caught coronavirus in prison in Iran.

It comes after reports that one inmate has died in Evin Prison as the country battles one of the worst outbreaks of Covid-19 outside China.

The death toll in Iran has hit 43, with nearly 600 hundred confirmed infections, according to authoritie​s.

Meanwhile, British-Iranian mother Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 41, who has spent four years in prison on espionage charges that she strenuously denies, recently said she is suffering from a cold-like symptoms.

© Provided by Independent Digital News & Media Limited Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella, before her arrest in 2016 (PA)

In a phone call with her family, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said: "For a long time this has not felt like a normal cold.

Photos: Coronavirus outbreak

"These symptoms have lasted almost a week. I know I need to get medicine to get better. This does not go magically."

Now Mr Ratcliffe has said in a statement on Saturday that the Free Nazanin Campaign, which he leads, believes she has contracted the virus inside the jail.

Mr Ratcliffe cited a lack of hygiene materials made available to the prisoners as part of the reason he believes his wife has caught coronavirus after she said she was suffering from a cold.

He said: "Following today's phone call with Nazanin, the Free Nazanin Campaign can confirm that she (and we) now believe that she has coronavirus inside Evin prison, in part due to the lack of hygiene materials made available to prisoners.

"We are concerned by the prison authorities refusal to test her and the wider suppression of coronavirus inside the Iranian prison system

"We call on the UK government to insist that Nazanin is tested for coronavirus immediately, and is treated properly.

"We further call on the Prime Minister to take charge as part of his coronavirus efforts to ensure that British Iranians held hostage in Evin Prison are diplomatically protected."

His comments come after he intensified his calls on the British government to secure his wife’s release on Friday, saying it has “an obligation to keep her alive”.

Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said the UK’s ambassador to Iran, where at least 26 patients have died so far and hundreds are infected, has raised concerns with the regime, saying official denials are not always “authoritative”.

He told MPs on Friday that UK officials are trying to find out more as the country struggled with an outbreak centred on a holy site.

Mr Ratcliffe, 45, said his wife’s family in Iran have been told face-to-face visits in the prison are now banned and that inmates have run out of disinfectant. He is also said she has been feeling unwell.

The accountant, who lives with the couple’s daughter Gabriella, five, in West Hampstead, said: “Hopefully it is just a cold… We have to keep calm, but she is sitting in a prison feeling a bit ill, feeling worried, with no ability to sanitise things properly.

"Nazanin told her mum yesterday that the prison has run out of disinfectant, and run out of antiseptic soap, and the only thing they have got is washing-up liquid.”

An FCO spokesperson said: “We are urgently seeking information from the Iranian authorities on reports that coronavirus is spreading in Evin prison, including to British-Iranian dual nationals.

“We call on the Iranian government to immediately allow health professionals into Evin prison to assess the situation of British-Iranian dual nationals there.”