Health min.: 300,000 medical teams start detecting Covid-19 cases as of Monday

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 01 March 2020 5:35 PM

Iran's Health Minister Saeed Namaki says 300,000 special teams with relevant expertise will start monitoring and detecting potential cases of coronavirus infection across the country as of Monday.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, the Iranian minister said a national coronavirus containment plan has entered into effect across the country, adding, "This plan will get underway as of tomorrow (Monday) using 300,000 medical teams."

Namaki said, "In this move, Iran, as one of the pioneering countries in the East Mediterranean region and for the first time in the world, will endeavor to prevent the disease in an active manner instead of sitting idly for the virus to show up."

The Iranian minister noted that the teams will be dispatched to every single home to identify suspected cases at the earliest in order to send them to medical centers.

Namaki emphasized that out of some 950 confirmed cases so far, 175 patients have recovered while the figure is increasing.

At ATM, Iranian woman does her share in anti-coronavirus battle

Meanwhile, a new video has surfaced on social media showing a responsible Iranian woman disinfecting an ATM in line with collective efforts currently underway to contain the spread of coronavirus in Iran.

The clip came out after Iran announced earlier on Sunday that it had introduced new measures to contain the spread of the flu-like virus originating from China.

The video, recorded in the city of Khorramabad, shows an Iranian woman painstakingly disinfecting a bank's ATM to do her part in preventing further spread of the deadly virus.

On Sunday, the Iranian Health Ministry updated the death toll from the virus to 54 and the number of confirmed infections to 978.