Jul 12, 2020 13:38 Asia/Tehran [Updated: Oct 31, 2020 08:53 Asia/Tehran]

Tehran (IP) - Quantitatively Iran is capable of doing over 30,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests and is about to increase them as long as COVID-19 is colliding with flu, said Director-General of Health Ministry's Public Health Laboratories.

Iran Press/Iran News: In response to Iran Press question on Iran's laboratories diagnostic test capacities and the approved methods on Sunday, Siamak Samiei said there over 180 labs volunteer to offer services out of which 70 are private ones, some 80 to 90 belong to the Health Ministry and the rest run by armed forces and Science Ministry and others, conducting PCR tests. 

170 labs have been given licenses after their equipment and immunity to conduct the tests were proven by Pasture Institute's medical research center and started their activities under medical universities' supervision, he said.

Samiei referred to two methods for the diagnostic tests one of which was Molecular detection which is too expensive, requiring skilled staff.

The other method, he said, is the serology test which helps to estimate the rate of infections in the society and can be done within 1 to 3 months, he said. 

All the diagnostic kits are home-made and after their quality has been proven, are distributed to the country's labs, Siamak Samiei noted.

He also stressed that all the labs' staff are obliged to be equipped with 'Personal Protective Equipment' (PPE).

The Ministry of Health is currently reviewing serological testing for the value and its applications as well as examining the state of Iran's provinces over time when exposed to the virus.

During his live presser, Siamak Samiei stated that crowd controlling in the labs is time-consuming because there are long waiting queues while managing them to contain the virus is a must.

The virus is novel and all of us must act the way not to waste people and country's finance, said the Health Ministry's Director-General of Health Ministry's Public Health Laboratories.

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