TEHRAN, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran unveiled on Tuesday its home-made rapid antigen testing kit for COVID-19 in an official ceremony in the capital Tehran, official news agency IRNA reported.
"This kit has a performance similar to that of PCR tests," Sayyed Sajjad Moravveji, CEO of Barakat E-Health Company (BEHCo), told reporters on the sidelines of the event.
Compared with ordinary PCR kits currently used in Iran, the new kit is more adequate for outpatients since it can identify infected people in 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
It can also make COVID-19 testing accessible for people living in remote and deprived areas, Moravveji added.
Additionally, the new kit costs about 30 percent of the price of a PCR testing kit, he noted.
Officials such as Iranian Vice-President Ishaq Jahangiri and Mohammad Reza Mokhber Dezfuli, head of the Headquarters for Executing Imam Khomeini's Order, attended the event.
BEHCo is a private company that operates as a subset of the Headquarters for Executing Imam Khomeini's Order. Enditem
