TEHRAN (Dispatches) – The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in Iran has exceeded 800,000, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday, adding 480 patients had lost their lives over the past 24 hours.
Speaking at a daily press conference, ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said 801,894 people have tested positive for COVID-19 across the country after 13,421 new cases were detected in the past 24 hours.
Of the new detected cases, 2,837 patients have been admitted to hospital, she said, adding 5,712 coronavirus patients hospitalized in medical centers are in critical condition.
The new deaths brought the overall fatality toll from COVID-19 in to 42,941.
Meanwhile, at least 576,983 patients have recovered from the coronavirus infection so far or have been discharged from hospitals across Iran, the spokeswoman said.
Lari also noted that nearly 5,626,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests have been carried out in Iran so far.
On Tuesday, Iran unveiled a new generation of homegrown test kits that allow rapid detection of the new coronavirus with high accuracy in less than half an hour.
The Iranian rapid antigen test kit was put on display during a ceremony attended by Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, head of the Tehran Coronavirus Combat Taskforce Dr. Alireza Zali, as well as director of the Executive Headquarters of Imam’s Directive, Muammad Mokhber Dezfuli.
The kit is manufactured by the knowledge-based Barakat E-Health Company (BEHCo), and is capable of detecting the virus between 15 and 20 minutes. It is set to enter the market in the near future.
According to its website, BEHCo is a private company that engages state-of-the-art technologies in the field of public health to improve the quality of and access to healthcare services for a broad spectrum of individuals and professionals.