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Iran’s minister of industries says the country faces an oversupply of key equipment needed to battle COVID-19, the disease caused by coronaviurs, saying his ministry plans to authorize exports of those items in the near future.

Alireza Razm Hosseini said on Saturday that exports would be allowed for ventilators, oxygen concentrators and face masks.

“Currently two large factories that manufacture ventilators to meet demands of the ministry of health are faced with an oversupply and are asking for exports permission,” said Razm Hosseini.

The minister said, however, that final export permits would be granted after a precise assessment is carried out about the current domestic demand.

Iran has increasingly relied on home-grown capacities to battle one of the worst outbreaks of coronavirus in the Middle East.

Iran setting up ultra-cold storage facilities for COVID-19 vaccines: Official
That has helped the country overcome difficulties arising from a series of illegal and inhumane American sanctions that have hampered the supply of health equipment from abroad.

Recent government estimates suggested that the country was producing more than 20 million face masks per day.

This comes as Iran is currently grappling with a third surge in the number of COVID-19 infections although latest figures provided by the health ministry shows that the disease is slowing two weeks after a series of strict movement restrictions was enforced by the government.

Health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on Saturday that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases had increased by 12,151 over the past 24 hours to reach a total of 1,028,986 cases.

The number of deaths also increased by 321 to a total of 50,016 on Saturday while there has been 719,708 recoveries since late February when the disease was first spotted in Iran

Original Article Source: Press TV | Published on Saturday, 05 December 2020 18:42 (about 1208 days ago)