Iran Unveils First Mobile COVID-19 Lab

The first mobile diagnosing laboratory was unveiled with the Head of Basij Popular Mobilization Organization Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani in attendance. The lab is also capable of diagnosing other viruses as well.

Basij Organization has also produced over 40 million face-masks amid the national campaign against coronavirus epidemic.

On Friday, a corona-infected 101-year old man was treated and given leave from hospital in the Northern city of Gorgan. The man is the fourth officially declared over-a-century-year-old patient that has recovered from coronavirus infection in Iran, with the oldest being a 103-year-old woman who recovered at a hospital in the Northern province of Semnan last week.

Elsewhere, the project of plasma-treatment for corona-infected patients was carried out in the Western city of Kermanshah and the treated patient is in good health.

The first batch of indigenous kits of COVID-19 diagnosis entered the production phase. Since the outbreak of coronavirus, two kinds of kits were started to be produced while the first kind has entered the production line successfully and the second one is passing through necessary tests.

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami said that Basij forces produce 3 million face-masks every day, stressing that the whole capacity of IRGC and Basij have been brought to the scene of campaign against coronavirus epidemic so that even a single patient is not left on his own.

An official of Iran's Health Ministry said that the ministry is conducting over 10,000 coronavirus tests at 90 laboratories across the country each day.

Also, a group of engineering medicine in Mashhad made isolation shields for carrying of patients suffering from infectious diseases such as corona-infected patients. The entire apparatus has been produced according to the standards used in the Chinese and American samples. However, with respect to the ample restrictions on electrical and mechanical parts in Iran, the shield has cost 1/10 of the foreign ones.

Meanwhile, an Iranian knowledge-based firm started manufacturing a polyester face shield for medical staff who work with corona-infected patients.

As another spectacular progress, a Pardis Technological Park company also managed to make a special disinfecting gate to protect medical personnel against coronavirus.

Executive Manager of the knowledge-based company Afashin Nasseri informed of manufacturing a device for disinfecting the apparel of medical personnel, especially those working at administrative section and those who are engaged in non-contaminated sections but have to commute to hospitalization sections.

The device is usable for entrance and exit gates of administrative buildings of companies and organizations and disinfecting employees and people coming from outside.

"This device sprays special disinfectants in haze form without wetting the clothes, Nasseri said, adding, "Those who cross the gate can disinfect themselves by a 5-second stop."

He continued that in fact this device is installed at the entrance and exit gates of hospitalization sections of corona-infected patients, to disinfect treatment staff's clothes and those who commute to the sections.

Nasseri added that it took two weeks to design and make this device.

Iran's Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour announced on Saturday that more than 57 million Iranians have been screened for COVID-19 epidemic.  

The coronavirus COVID-19 has affected nearly all countries and territories around the world. The virus was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. It has so far killed more than 28,200 people and infected over 613,000 others globally.

Iran reported on Friday that a total number of 2,517 coronavirus patients have died and 35,408 cases of infection have been identified in the country so far. Meanwhile, 11,679 people have also recovered.

The Iranian foreign ministry declared that despite Washington’s claims of cooperation to transfer drugs to Iran via the new Swiss-launched payment mechanism, the US is troubling the process amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Although US claims that medicines and medical equipment are not under sanctions, they have practically blocked the transfer of Iran’s financial resources in other countries into the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said.

As the death toll from the virus surges, Iran intensifies its preventive safety measures. Closures of schools and universities have been extended until early April.

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.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced earlier this month 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.

According to the latest statistics of Health Ministry, the number of medical laboratories to test coronavirus infection has reached 90 across the country.

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: MehrNEWS