TEHRAN – The Iranian Defense Ministry inaugurated on Thursday a production line for manufacturing ionized face masks which offer better protection against the coronavirus and can be used for up to 50 hours.

On the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony, Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said the technology used in the production of face masks is home-grown and there are no foreign rivals for the product, IRIB reported.

The minister added that the masks come at comparatively low prices and the ministry presently has the capacity of producing 100,000 masks per day, which will be increased up to 500,000 after a month. 

On Friday, the Iranian Health Ministry announced that during the past 24 hours, 1,972 COVID-19 cases have been detected across the country. According to the ministry’s spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour, the total confirmed infections have so far hit 68,192.