The Islamic republic, considered one of the worst-hit countries in the world as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the worst in the Middle East, has been struggling to contain the rapidly spreading outbreak while under harsh unilateral US economic sanctions.
Experts in the Iranian Defence Ministry have released protective face masks with ionized filtering technology, a first of its type in the world, according to Mehr News Agency.
Iranian Minister of Defence Brigadier General Amir Hatami opened the production line for the new invention on Thursday.
The minister said that the new mask gives better protection against viruses than other more familiar mask types. The new product, which comes in lower prices, and is said to be safely used for up to 50 hours.
Defense Ministry Invents Ionized Face Maskshttps://t.co/7mjS9iZ7UR pic.twitter.com/zs7nEXTFsy
— Fars News Agency (@EnglishFars) April 10, 2020
Hatami said that the ministry is currently capable of producing 100,000 masks per day and is planning to increase production capacity to 500,000 pieces per day by next month.
As of Friday, Iranian health authorities had confirmed 122 new COVID-19-related deaths during the past 24 hours, increasing the death toll to 4,232. Infections have also increased by 1,972, for a total of 68,192 cases, of which 34,465 have recovered from the disease.
The nation’s Heath Ministry said it has conducted over 242,500 tests across the country to detect infections.
