Iranian researcher says homemade anti-coronavirus equipment to be mass-produced

Iran will mass-produce homemade equipment which has been developed to deal with the COVID-19, an Iranian academic was quoted as saying by the state TV on Tuesday.

"Diagnostic kits, anti-coronavirus masks and light ventilators developed by the researchers at Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran will soon be mass-produced and put on the market," said Babak Shokri, research deputy at the university.

The new kits could be used to diagnose the disease in 20 minutes, while the kits available in the market take longer time to detect the virus, Shokri said.

He added that the newly-developed kits have been designed for diagnosing not only the novel coronavirus but also other viruses, including Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome and avian flu viruses.

Besides, the Iranian researchers are working on the masks that can protect the user by killing rather than simply trapping the virus, he noted.

Shokri said that the light-weight ventilators have also been designed to provide breathing support to patients. "These devices are simpler, lighter and less expensive compared to the full-size models," he said.

Iran is the worst-hit country by the pandemic in the Middle East, with 62,589 confirmed cases and 3,872 deaths as of Monday.