Iran

Iranian Devises Ozone Disinfection Tunnel in Northwestern Province

An ozone disinfection system was devised by an employee of Tabriz Municipality in East Azarbaijan province in Northwestern Iran and delivered to the firefighting department for operation.

According to Mohammad-Hossein Kooh-Kamari, the manufacturer of the disinfection system, the device is completely indigenous and has no imported parts or materials and is expected to be installed in all busy offices and crowded passages of Tabriz city.

The ozone disinfection system systematically destroys the viruses without the need for disinfectants and acts 3,200 times faster and 60 times stronger than disinfectant solutions.

According to the deputy mayor of Tabriz, the disinfection tunnel with the ozone gas will cause less damage to people, cars and the environment.

Ozone is a safe and environmentally friendly gas that was proven to kill the SARS virus.

Iran has managed to decrease the daily death toll from the novel coronavirus to 94 patients during the past 24 hours, marking the lowest daily death toll since a month ago.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) informed of the production of a smart system titled ‘Mosta’an’ with the ability to identify COVID-19 in all types of environment swiftly.

The smart system which is unique in the world was developed by Basiji (popular forces) scientists and unveiled in a ceremony participated by IRGC Commander Major General Hossein Salami, Commander of Basij (volunteer) forces Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, Deputy Commander of the IRGC for Health, Medical Training and Biological Defence Affairs Brigadier General Ahmad Abdollahi and Head of Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, which works under the IRGC supervision.

“The system can spot the coronavirus-contaminated area from 100 meters away in 5 seconds and it does not need to take blood from patients and has been tested in different hospitals and showed positive performance in 80% of cases,” General Salami said.

General Salami also said that the IRGC has set up a base to provide relief aids to a large number of less-privileged Iranian households to recover from the coronavirus disease.

“Imam Hassan Mojtaba (AS) base has been set up following guidelines by Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in his recent televised speech during which the Supreme Leader urged support for the poor and vulnerable community on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan,” General Salami said while referring to dispatch of 3.5 million relief packages for people.

Soon after the remarks of Ayatollah Khamenei, a meeting was held in which the IRGC commander and the heads of charitable institutions convened to set up a base in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade to provide relief to the less-privileged Iranian households as COVIC-19 continues in the country. 

Meanwhile, a senior Iranian medical official said that plasma therapy used in a number of hospitals across the country has showed 50% better results than other methods used to treat patients infected with COVID-19 virus.

“The project (plasma therapy) started in Iran in March and has continued until now. The main base to implement the project is Baqiyatallah hospital (in Tehran which works under the IRGC supervision) and the Blood Transfusion Organization has also cooperated well in implementing the project,” Head of the Pharmacy College of Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences Abdol Majid Cheraq Ali told FNA on Wednesday.

He added that 150 coronavirus patients have been treated so far through the application of plasma therapy method at Baqiyatallah hospital.

“Our primary information shows that this treatment method has been 50% more effective than others,” Charaq Ali said.

Meantime, Iran put into operation the largest face mask factory in West Asia at Eshtehard Industrial Town of Alborz province, West of Tehran to meet the country’s needs for the product in combating coronavirus.

The factory has the capacity to produce 3 million facial masks and 100,000 N95 respirators daily with relying on the capabilities and potentials of Iranian youth and knowledge-based companies.  

As West Asia’s largest mask production plant has been set up in Alborz province, the production capacity of face masks in the country will quadruple compared to the days before the coronavirus outbreak.

With more than 2,000 industrial and production units, Eshtehard Industrial Town is the largest of its kind in Iran.

Moreover, Head of Kermanshah Science and Technology Park Masoumeh Khan- Ahmadi informed of production of all N95 masks and face shields in the province adding that the belief of the youth took them to the stage of self-sufficiency.

“All of the 45,000 face masks and 180,000 face shields of the province have been made at the technological centers of the province,” she said, adding that over 546,000 liters of solution liquids and disinfectant gels have also been produced in the province.   

Furthermore, Iranian Deputy Health Minister Alireza Rayeesi said that over 102 health protocols for 12,000 jobs have been provided by the Ministry to curb coronavirus outbreak.

The official referred to the slow resumption of businesses, saying, “Resuming operation of businesses does not mean normalizing social conditions, but it is to help economic activity and people’s livelihood, and health protocols must be observed properly.”

Also, Minister of Labor Mohammad Shariatmadari said that his ministry has rendered services in its medical centers to about 15,000 people suspected of infection with coronavirus.

“Social Security Organization has 80 hospitals and 330 other medical centers,” Shariatmadari said and added that 5,000 beds were allocated to coronavirus patients. Many people were treated, a large number of whom recovered but a few lost their lives.  

Meantime, Tehran’s Mayor Pirouz Hanachi and his counterpart in Seoul Park Won-soon discussed combat against coronavirus disease in a video interview late on Tuesday.

“Tough conditions of the early days of coronavirus outbreak do not exist anymore in Iran, as the number of the infected patients and deaths has notably decreased.” Hanachi said

“Iran is fighting simultaneously against the virus and sanctions,” he said, noting that in the beginning, there were limited facilities in the country, as only two labs could take coronavirus tests but the number of such labs has now reached 60.

“Tehran Municipality set up a video mapping on Azadi Tower as a sign of solidarity with other countries grappling with the pandemic that was welcomed by other countries,” he said.  

Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Minister of Health Iraj Harirchi said that the number of coronavirus patients decreased in 16 provinces on Tuesday, as infection cases were between zero and 20.

“25 percent of provinces had from zero to 10 cases, while in the other 25 percent the number stood something between 10 to 20,” Iraj Harirchi added

The Iranian health ministry announced on Wednesday that 94 coronavirus patients have lost their lives due to coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours, the second consecutive day that the toll has been a double-digit number.

“1,512 more patients infected with COVID-19 virus have been identified in the country since yesterday based on confirmed diagnosis criteria,” Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.

He said that the total number of coronavirus patients in Iran has increased to 76,389, adding that 4,777 people have lost their lives due to infection to the virus, including 94 in the past 24 hours.

Jahanpour, meantime, said that 49,933 infected people have been treated and dismissed from hospital, expressing concern that 3,643 patients infected with COVID-19 virus are in critical conditions.

He also noted that 299,204 coronavirus diagnosis tests have been carried out in the country so far.

Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki stressed on April 7 effective measures to control coronavirus epidemic, expressing the hope that the disease would be controlled in Iran by late May.

“At present, the country is in the phase of disease management and we should not imagine that we have reached the harness and control phase. Today is the time for full-fledged combat against the virus. God willing, we will control coronavirus by late May. The virus should be controlled in the minimum possible time,” Namaki said, addressing the Iranian legislators in an open session of the parliament in Tehran.

He noted that at least 30% to 50% of hospital beds are still vacant across Iran and nearly 15,000 beds are ready to keep the patients who are recovering from coronavirus disease.

“We have now moved down to tank 6th in terms of deaths,” Namaki said, adding that the country’s situation in treatment of patients will improve in the next few days.

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting approximately 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 127,500 people and infected over 2 million others globally.

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 most universities have been extended until late 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.

Namaki announced last 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 over 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.

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