Iran Diagnosing Coronavirus with 2 Types of Kits, 2 Methods

Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari said that his country’s medical centers are diagnosing infection to coronavirus disease with two types of test kits and two different methods.

Sattari said on Wednesday that Iran is conducting hundreds of research projects to detect the nature of the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

More than 2,000 clinical tests have been carried out in the country in this regard, he stressed.

So far, several research projects have been defined for the discovery of nature of COVID-19, all of which are underway, Sattari said, adding, “Over 2,000 clinical tests have been conducted within the framework of 76 projects to discover the treatment protocols, effective drugs, cell therapy methods, use of blood plasma of the recovered patients and herbal plants affecting the disease.”

These researches have produced significant results which have led to the development of knowledge to combat the disease, elimination of drugs which have no effect on the trend of disease and also development of three effective treatment protocols, he emphasized.

Sattari pointed out that these researches have been carried out in cooperation with many scientists, researchers employed in research centers, universities and knowledge-based companies.

To diagnose the disease, he said, “Fortunately, two types of test kits with two different methods have been mass-produced in the country, one is based on the saliva while the other is based on the blood test.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, the vice president said, “Artificial intelligence systems have been used to diagnose the disease and various applications have been developed to predict and trace the spread of the disease.”

As advanced and developed countries are facing serious problems in the field of provision of their medical and hospital equipment, knowledge-based companies in Iran have produced all these products and no patient in the country has experienced the shortage of these equipment including ventilator, CT Scan, ICU rooms, oxygen maker, etc., Sattari added.

Iranian health ministry announced on Wednesday that the number of people infected with coronavirus in the country has increased to 64,586, reporting recovery of 29,812 patients.

“1,997 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 added that the number of coronavirus patients in Iran has increased to 64,586, adding that 3,993 people have lost their lives due to infection to the virus, 121 of them in the past 24 hours.

Jahanpour, meantime, said that the recovery of patients has accelerated in Iran and 29,812 infected people have been treated and dismissed from hospital.

He noted that 229,975 coronavirus diagnosis tests have been carried out in the country so far, adding that 3,956 patients infected with COVID-19 virus are in critical conditions.

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 88,500 people and infected over 1.51 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.

Iranian 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 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.