TEHRAN – Richard Brennan, the Regional Emergency Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region, has said countries in the region and all over the world should use Iran’s experience as a role model in fight against the novel coronavirus.

“Iran benefits from one of the strongest healthcare systems in the region. Iran has made notable achievements in the field of battling coronavirus,” the WHO official said in a press conference in Tehran on Saturday, IRNA reported.

Fake news are one of the adversaries of fighting the coronavirus, he said, noting that information dissemination about the coronavirus should be accurately carried out.

“Over the past couple of day, experts from the World Health Organization, The Robert Koch Institute, and China’s CBC Group have held meetings with Iranian officials. They exchanged many experiences and we have learned many lessons from the Iranian healthcare system.”

“Researches are underway for producing vaccine and medicine [for the disease], but it will take nine to twelve months to develop a vaccine,” he explained.

On March 2, WHO sent an aircraft carrying tons of medical supplies and test kits along with a medical team to Iran in order to help combat the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19.

The supplies, worth of over $300,000, consisted of gloves, surgical masks, and respirators.

The Plan and Budget Organization has allocated 5.5 trillion rials (nearly $170 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) more to the Ministry of Health in order to counter COVID-19.

This allocation is in line with the order of President Hassan Rouhani to enhance services of medical staff, nurses and health workers fighting coronavirus, IRIB reported.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki has announced that effective measures have been taken and comprehensive plans are underway to get rid of the virus in the country.

The country has put in place a set of contingency plans, including the temporary shutdown of schools, universities and cultural centers, in an effort to curb a coronavirus outbreak that has already claimed eight lives in the country.

The number of coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 6566, with 2134 recovered and 194 dead so far.

MG