Coronavirus: Iran's IRGC's new detection device not approved by ministry

A coronavirus detection device unveiled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) does not have the health ministry’s approval, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpour said on Wednesday.

The IRGC said on Wednesday it had a new device which could detect coronavirus remotely and without blood tests. The device can detect infected individuals as well as contaminated areas within a 100-meter range, the head of the IRGC Hossein Salami said, who added it had an 80 percent success rate.

“When the device’s antenna is pointed at a specific location, it will detect the contaminated spot within five seconds,” explained Salami.

Read more: Coronavirus: Iran’s IRGC unveils new device it says can detect the virus

However, health ministry spokesman Jahanpour said at a press conference on the same day that the IRGC’s device does not have the ministry’s approval.

“Many of these efforts have been made, but the cases that have received final approval have been very few,” said Jahanpour.

The device can only be mass produced if it has approval from the health ministry’s food and drug administration, he added.

Iran’s coronavirus death toll reached 4,869 on Thursday with almost 78,000 confirmed cases, a health official said.

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