Iran Press/ Iran News: Speaking at a press conference on Sunday on the latest measures taken to contain the new coronavirus in the country, Mohammadreza Shanehsaz said: "In the field of alcohol production and disinfectant solutions, our production capacity was about 180,000 liters per day, but now more than 400,000 liters of alcohol are produced daily in the country."
The Head of IFDA referred to the production of gowns used in hospital wards, saying: "With the cooperation of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade and the mobilization of guilds, we can produce about 100,000 meters of fabric per day, which in turn about 40,000 pieces of gowns are produced daily."
Shanehsaz stressed that at different times and even during the Iranian New Year holiday, there was no time when the Food and Drug Administration was closed and licenses were issued every day.
"We are currently looking for a 3 million depot of gowns," he added.
The head of IFDA noted that the administration would be able to meet many of the needs of the country by relying on the people and domestic producers.
There are still no drugs or vaccine for treating COVID-19
In response to a question about the drug Favipiravir, Mohammadreza Shanehsaz said: "The effectiveness of Favipiravir on treating COVID-19 patients has not been proven yet."
The head of IFDA further explained that there are no approved drugs or vaccines in the world for the treatment of COVID-19 disease, and noted: "There are many suggestions and all cases are being considered, but so far no drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and the Ministry of Health's Scientific Committee."
Iran has no problem supplying masks for healthcare staff
Shanehsaz pointed to the providing masks for healthcare workers, saying: "Before the COVID-19 crisis, the production capacity of facial and respirator masks were about 350,000 and 5,000 per day, respectively."
He stressed that about 1.5 million three-layer masks are now being produced in industrial units.
"The production of three-layer masks has increased by 25 times and I hope the production will reach 5 million masks per day until mid-May," the head of IFDA added.
COVID-19 diagnostic kits
In response to a question about the import of the coronavirus diagnostic kits, Mohammadreza Shanehsaz said a large economic market has been formed for COVID-19 related products.
"The Health Ministry's policy is to support domestic production, and as soon as the domestic producer can prove its accuracy and quality, the test kit supply program will be based on the use of domestic production," the head of IFDA added.
He referred to rapid test kits, saying: "The accuracy of rapid test kits has not yet been confirmed by the Coronavirus Scientific Committee."
Referring to the kit imports from China or Europe, Mohammadreza Shanehsaz said: "With the domestic production of kits, we would not need any kind of imports of diagnostic kits."
Sanctions impacts amid coronavirus
The head of IFDA stressed: "The US claims medicine and medical products are exempted from sanctions, but when we cannot transfer money, no foreign producer provides the goods."
He also mentioned that the companies voiced their interest to enter the Iranian market, adding: "But if they work with Iran, they will be sanctioned by the US, so they will lose the European and American markets. Every trader prefers not to miss the big, low-risk market."
Shanehsaz added that the sanctions grip is getting tighter every day, saying: "The companies that work with Iran and all the documents show that they have imported nothing but drugs and equipment are being held accountable."
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