Tasnim – Iran’s Ministry of Defense has developed the third generation of test kits for diagnosing the novel coronavirus, an official said.

Iranian scientists at the Defense Ministry have managed to produce the third generation of coronavirus tests kits that can detect targets in the RdRp gene, chief of the Defense Ministry’s Health, Medical and Rescue Department announced on Sunday.

Reza Allahveren said the first generation of COVID-19 test kits, which detect the N gene, were manufactured by the Defense Ministry experts 40 days ago, and have been mass-produced after being verified by the Pasteur Institute of Iran.

The Defense Ministry has also manufactured the second and the third generation of tests kits that can look for targets in the RdRp gene, he added.

Allahveren then noted that the Defense Ministry has also manufactured thermal cameras used or screening people for coronavirus infection, and is now producing 150,000 liters of hand sanitizer and 40,000 masks every day.

Last week, the Defense Ministry began the mass production of rapid coronavirus test kits which yield a faster result compared to PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) based kits.

The diagnostics tools can determine within three hours whether a person is infected with the coronavirus, and are also capable of identifying all common genomes, helping health authorities to increase diagnostic capacity and treat patients in early stages of contracting COVID-19.

In late February, the Pasteur Institute of Iran approved the ministry's testing tools after testing them out in comparison to foreign ones.