Iran Launches More Coronavirus Labs, Uses Drones for Disinfection
TEHRAN (Basirat): Iran on Tuesday continued to increase the number of its coronavirus-special laboratories across the country and launched operation of a well-equipped lab in the Western province of Ilam, as it widened public health and hygiene efforts and brought a fleet of drones into operation to spray sterilizing liquids in areas around hospitals and other high risk centers.
“The diagnosis tests on the samples from suspected coronavirus patients will be conducted inside Ilam province with the operation of this special lab,” Head of Ilam province’s University of Medical Sciences Mohammad Karimian told FNA on Tuesday.
Meantime, a knowledge-based company in the Western province of Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad’s science and technology park started operation to disinfect areas near the province’s hospitals by using drones.
“Operations to spray sterilizing liquids were successfully carried out in 3 10-minute sorties and the entrances of the emergency units, the hospital’s building and stories linked to the section special to treating coronavirus patients were disinfected,” an official with the knowledge-based company said.
Also, reports from the capital city of Tehran indicate strenuous efforts by the country’s researchers to produce effective medicine to cure coronavirus patients.
Also, the jihadi (volunteer) groups in Amir Kabir University in Tehran are launching a production line to produce masks and other hygiene materials to help the country’s mobilization against the coronavirus epidemic.
Meantime, the health ministry in cooperation with the Psychology and Counselling Organization invited 700 volunteer psychologists to join a phone counseling service to help people with symptoms of coronavirus anxiety.
Other voluntary forces in Alborz province near Tehran have also started efforts to disinfect public places and streets.
Also, the ministry’s representative in Qom province, an epicentre of coronavirus in Iran, said that the medications that could help recovery of COVID-19 virus infected patients has been supplied to the province.
Reports from different provinces, including Semnan in Northeast and South Khorassan in East Iran, also showed that tens of patients infected with the novel coronavirus have recovered and left hospitals.
Meantime, Spokesman of the Iranian Health Ministry Kianoush Jahanpour announced on Tuesday that fortunately over 2,700 coronavirus-infected people have recovered in the country, while a sum of 291 patients have lost their lives so far.
“Based on the laboratorial results, 881 new patients infected with COVID-19 have been identified in the country since Monday noon and the number of infected people increased to 8,042 cases,” Jahanpour said.
He expressed sorrow that 54 people have died of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 291.
Meantime, Jahanpour said that 2,731 patients infected with COVID-19 virus have recovered, noting that the process of treatment and discharge of patients has improved considerably.
Globally, more than 114,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 with over 4,000 deaths so far, the vast majority of them in China where the virus originated late last year.
The coronavirus is spreading in the Middle East, Europe, US and other parts of the world, while parts of China begin to lower their emergency response level as the number of new cases reported there continues to slow.
Authorities across the United States reported over 700 cases of coronavirus and 26 deaths as of Monday.
More than 60 million people in Italy have been placed under lockdown after the government extended emergency measures across the entire country in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Italy is struggling to contain Europe’s worst outbreak of Covid-19, which has claimed 463 lives and infected 9,172 people.
As the death toll from the virus surges, Iran intensifies its preventive safety measures. Closures of schools and universities have been extended for the next two weeks.
The government also imposed travel restrictions, specially on Iran’s north, which is among the red zones. The country has also adopted strict digital health control procedures at airports to spot possible infections.
Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced last week that a new national mobilization plan would be implemented across the country to fight against the coronavirus epidemic and more effectively treat patients.
Namaki said that the plan will include all the 17,000 health centers and the 9,000 medical and clinical centers in all cities, suburban areas and villages.
He added that the plan will include home quarantine, noting that infected people will receive the necessary medicines and advice, but they are asked to stay at home.
Namaki said that people with a more serious condition will stay at the hospitals, adding that the public places will be disinfected, the entries of infected towns and cities will be controlled to diagnose and quarantine the infected cases.
He added that the necessary equipment and facilities have been provided, expressing the hope that the epidemic would be curbed.
Namaki said that the number of medical laboratories to test coronavirus infection has reached 22, and will increase to 40 soon.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says Iran's response to the virus has so far been up to the mark. Still, it says the US sanctions are a big challenge, and Washington would be complicit in the rising death toll in Iran if it would not remove its sanctions.
The World Health Organization has considered priorities in combating coronavirus and Islamic Republic of Iran obeys and follows up priorities as defined by WHO.
The WHO is dispatching separate delegations to all countries.
Source:FNA
