Iran’s IRGC unveils homegrown rapid test kits for coronavirus

The kits were revealed during a ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday at the IRGC’s Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences in the presence of the elite force’s Chief Commander Major General Hossein Salami and a number of medical officials.

The injection kits can detect the coronavirus with high accuracy in 10 minutes.

Addressing the ceremony, Salami said the IRGC forces have succeeded in making great achievements in the health sector since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic around a year ago.

He added that Iran has been engaged in warfare with enemies over the past 1.5 years but the IRGC forces’ steadfastness brought hope to the hearts of Iranians.

At a time when the enemies were waiting for Iran’s defeat in the fight against the “most severe disease” in the world to accuse the country of inability, the IRGC forces managed to make a great success, Salami said.

The ceremony was held on the same day that Iran unveiled a new COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Defense Ministry’s research center formerly headed by nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated in a suspected Israeli-linked terror attack late last year.

The first phase in the human trial of the vaccine, dubbed Fakhra, was launched during a ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday.

Iran in November unveiled rapid antigen test kit that allows detection of the coronavirus in less than half an hour.

The kit was manufactured by the knowledge-based Barakat E-Health Company (BEHCo), and is capable of detecting the virus between 15 and 20 minutes.