The advisor to the vice president for science and technology affairs expressed: fortunately, the scientific power of Iran not only meets its needs to corona diagnosis kits, but soon the product will be exported to other countries.

Parviz Karami, the advisor to the vice president for science and technology affairs and president of the information center of the Vice-Presidency, stated: fortunately, the scientific power of Iran not only meets its needs to corona diagnosis kits, but soon the product will be exported to other countries after meeting domestic needs.

* How many knowledge-based companies are producing corona diagnosis kits in the country?

Karami: after the establishment of the corona fight committee at the Vice-Presidency and issuing a call for attracting knowledge-based companies active in the field of diagnosis kits, six knowledge-based companies were able to receive approvals to produce diagnosis kits. However, only one company has been able to start a mass production line opened a few days ago in the presence of Dr. Sattari to meet a great deal of needs to diagnosis kits in the country. This country can even export its product to other countries.

* How many corona detection kits are currently being made in the country daily or weekly?

Karami: two types of Iranian diagnosis kits are produced by knowledge-based companies; the first one works based on the PCR analysis method (one thousand kits are produced weekly) while the second one is of serological type produced by the same company at two million kits per week.

* Is the country's needs met 100% with Iranian kits made in the country?

Karami: yes. However, it should be noted that our country is under severe sanctions by the world. Even if that were not the case, other countries would sell us equipment at a high price due to the current situation. Fortunately, the scientific power of Iran not only meets its needs to corona diagnosis kits, but soon the product will be exported to other countries.

*How many types of corona diagnosis kits are available?

Karami: there are currently three types of corona diagnosis kits; the first type is real-time PCR kit, which is produced by four of the approved companies and includes half of the tests. However, this type of kits is more expensive than other kits. ELISA kit is another type used to diagnose corona based on the serological test. The kit measures antibodies produced against COVID-19. Therefore, if a person's antibody is positive and has a slightly higher antibody, it means that she has contracted the disease and her body has also formed an antibody against this disease.

It is notable that this kit is not for diagnosis and only shows whether the person has COVID-19 or not. In other words, the kit cannot determine whether the person has corona immediately. However, the kit is very cheaper than the first one and helps a person to decide to go to work or not.

The third type is rapid test kits, which are simple and fast. The kits are currently produced by the biotechnology development headquarter. This type of kit is cheap and can be used at homes.

* Do we have export in this field?

Karami: currently, the production of corona kits in the country is in two of three types of diagnostic kits, completely without help from other countries, and soon after meeting the domestic needs of the country, we can also export them. But at the moment, we do not have any exports due to domestic needs.

* Is there a statistic that shows how many kits are used daily to diagnose corona in the country?

Karami: you can get this statistic from the Ministry of Health. But no matter how much the country's daily needs are seen for different types of corona diagnostic kits, we can meet the country's needs by producing Iranian-made diagnostic kits.