Iranian Company Produces Anti-Coronavirus Masks with General Soleimani’s Image

An Iranian firm is producing masks with images of the martyred commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Qods Force, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, in memory of his devotion to defending Iranians’ lives against dangers.

The company in the Western province of Ilam produces 7,000 masks each day; with one of their types being washable to lower high consumption.

Some of the patterned masks manufactured by the company have also been printed with logos of popular Persepolis and Esteqlal football clubs as well as animation figures to encourage children and adolescents to wear masks.

Also, the municipality of Shiraz city in Southern Iran inaugurated its third center to produce masks, increasing the capacity to 25,000 masks every day.

The centers active under the supervision of Shiraz city’s municipality also produce several protective gears for the physicians and nurses directly involved in treating the coronavirus patients.

Moreover, several benefactors in the Northern city of Babol donated thousands of masks, protective clothing and medical equipment to the city’s University of Medical Sciences to be supplied to hospitals.

Meantime, Iran’s University of Science and Technology in Tehran started production of 120 liters of alcohol every day to be used for disinfection purposes in anti-coronavirus battle, authorities said, adding that the capacity can be increased to 400 liters in the near future.

Also in Tehran province, Managing Director of Firouzabadi Training and Treatment Center in Shahr-e Rey district Majid Rezayee said that the first phase of the hospital’s new section special to coronavirus patients has started operation with 60 beds, adding that the section will have 329 beds soon.

In another front, the head of Kermanshah province’s University of Medical Sciences for controlling non-contagious diseases said that 1.7mln of 1.8mln population of Kermanshah city have been screened for coronavirus infection so far via phone contacts.

Meantime, Commander of the Iranian Army’s regional base in Southeastern Iran General Amir Mehdi Memarbashi said that 18,900 people in the two provinces of Sistan and Balouchestan and Kerman have been screened for coronavirus infection at Army checkpoints.

Meantime, a 106-year-old man in Central city of Qom who had been infected with COVID-19 virus recovered and was discharged from hospital after two weeks. The man is the oldest Coronavirus patient treated in Iran.

Meantime, officials said that 553 standing and portable ventilators and 166 BIPAP machines have been given to the Iranian Medical Sciences Universities across the country since the start of coronavirus epidemic in Iran.

Also, Head of Coronavirus Management Center in Tehran Alireza Zali said Iranian researchers have launched a new system based on artificial intelligence which can diagnose infection to COVID-19 virus in patients without access to a specialized physician.

“The system is used in regions where there is no (specialized) doctor or radiologist and it gives precise consultations to the patient by using his/her CT Scan image and it estimates the volume of pulmonary lesion,” Zali said on Saturday.

He added that the system has been developed by using artificial intelligence and evaluates and forecasts future conditions.

Zali also said that that two hospitals in Tehran are now treating patients infected with COVID-19 virus through plasma therapy.

“Baqiyatallah and Masih Daneshvari hospitals are taking plasma from donors who have recovered from coronavirus,” Zali said.

He added that given the fact the efficiency of plasma therapy has been confirmed by the FDA, the method is now being implemented in Iran, noting that the first data related to the number of coronavirus patients recovered in Iran via this method will be released in the next few days.

In this method blood plasma is collected from people who have recovered after contracting coronavirus and the antibody-rich fluid is injected into patients battling COVID-19 to accelerate his/her recovery.

Meantime, Deputy Commander of Iran’s Basij (Volunteer Force) Brigadier General Mohammad Hossein Sepehr announced that more than 600,000 of his forces are at present actively helping the medical bodies in efforts to prevent coronavirus infection and treat patients.

“Today, over 600,000 Basij forces are rendering service to support different bodies in confronting coronavirus,” General Sepehr said on Saturday.

He underlined Iran’s success in controlling the growing epidemic of coronavirus, and said 70mln of Iranian people have been screened for infection to COVID-19 virus with the help of 50,000 specialized Basij groups across the country.

Also, Head of Gilan province’s University of Medical Sciences Arsalan Salari underlined underway efforts to increase the number of oxygen concentrator systems in the Northern province’s hospitals which receive coronavirus patients.

The Iranian health ministry announced on Saturday that the number of coronavirus cases in the country has increased to 55,743, adding that 3,452 patients have died and 19,736 others have recovered so far.

Iranian Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said that “2,560 more patients infected with COVID-19 virus have been identified in Iran, increasing the number of infected patients to 55,743”.

He added that 19,736 coronavirus patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals, expressing concern that 4,103 people infected with the virus are in critical conditions.

“Unfortunately, 158 patients infected with COVID-19 virus have lost their lives in the past 24 hours and the total number of deaths has increased to 3,452 people,” Jahanpour said.

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 60,000 people and infected over 1.13 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 universities have been extended until mid 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 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 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.