Iran Mass-producing Homegrown Rapid COVID-19 Test Kits

By Staff, Agencies

The Iranian Defense Ministry started the mass production of rapid coronavirus test kits which yield a faster result compared to [Polymerase chain reaction] PCR-based kits.

Head of the Industrial Research Office of the Iranian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Mohammad Azizi Delshad said on Monday that the diagnostics tools will be able to determine within three hours whether a person is infected with the coronavirus.

The kits are capable of identifying all common genomes, helping health authorities to increase diagnostic capacity and treat patients in early stages of contracting the COVID-19, he added.

“The research sample of this kit was prepared before March and before the first case of COVID-19 disease was diagnosed in the country. Since then, it has gone through its research process and obtained the necessary licenses and is now ready to be mass-produced and be available to medical centers,” Azizi explained.

In late February, the Pasteur Institute of Iran approved the ministry's testing tools after testing them out in comparison to foreign ones.

The viral disease has so far killed 2,757 people and infected 41,495 others in Iran. A total of 13,911 people have also recovered.