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Iranian Army Inaugurates 2,000-Bed Medical Center for Coronavirus Patients

The Iranian Army on Wednesday launched a medical center with 2,000 beds at Tehran International Permanent Fairground special to the coronavirus patients who are recovering from the deadly disease.

The medical complex, prepared within 48 hours, was inaugurated in a ceremony in the presence of Army Chief Commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari, Deputy Chief of Army for Coordination Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi and the Armed Forces’ Deputy Commander for Health and Treatment Brigadier General Hassan Araqizadeh.

The medical center has 2,000 beds, and according to the Army, the number can be boosted to 3,000.

Addressing the ceremony, General Heidari said that the Army has launched 27 hospitals and 4,750 hospital beds across the country so far, stressing readiness to prepare 8,000 others.

Also, Rear Admiral Sayyari said that the Army is well-prepared to thwart any threat thanks to combat capability.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony to unveil the Army’s 2,000-bed hospital, he said that immediately after reports of the epidemic in China, the Iranian army health system took major steps to contain coronavirus in Iran.

Rear Admiral Sayyari added that following Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s order to organize health system and stage drills by the Army to confront any possible biological attack, the Iranian Army has increased its combat readiness.

The measures adopted by the Army include giving service to 32 hospitals and all clinics, providing 1,600 beds, launching 200 makeshift and normal monitoring centers, preparing over 4,575 beds for hospitals, screening and disinfecting cars, streets, public places and launching workshops for producing masks and disinfectants by using modern warfare systems, he said. 

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting over 180 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 19,200 people and infected over 428,000 others globally.

Iran reported on Wednesday that a total number of 2,077 coronavirus patients have died and 27,017 cases of infection have been identified in the country so far. Meanwhile, 9,625 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.

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.

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