Secretary of Biotechnology Development Headquarters of the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology Mostafa Ghanei informed on Monday that Iranian knowledge-based companies will put their produced coronavirus test kits to the market next Iranian calendar month, Farvardin (Starting on March 21, 2020).

As Ghanei, who is also a member of COVID-19 Scientific Committee, elaborated, the available test kits have been provided to Iran by China, UNICEF, and WHO and there is a sufficient number of them to meet domestic demand within the next two months.

“To supply the demand in the country, the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology asked Iranian knowledge-based companies to start production of the kits,” he said, “After conducting required research, five out of 50 applicant companies were selected to start production of the kits in Iran.”

“Their first products will go to the market as of March 21,” he said.

Since the beginning of entry of coronavirus, into the country, the Biotechnology Development Headquarters of the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology in cooperation with Food and Drug Administration of Iran and Ministry of Health issued a call that if a knowledge-based company is able to produce a drug and/or kit, they should introduce themselves in order to meet the demand of the country in the field of rapid diagnosis of coronavirus and treatment of the disease.

As Ghanei informed earlier on Monday, the clinical trial of Iranian COVID-19 drugs started.

On March 2, WHO sent its first planeload of assistance to Iran to help fight coronavirus, dispatching six medics with tons of medical equipment and test kits aboard a UAE military aircraft, while the third consignment of test kits as part of aids to contain Covid-19 and first of UNICEF, arrived in Iran on the same day./MNA/

Iranian featherweight boxer Daniyal Shahbakhsh won against Yu Sing Tso of Hong Kong on Wednesday and secured a berth at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

The Olympic Boxing Qualification event is underway in Amman, Jordan. Iran has sent eight boxers to participate in the tournament.

Tso, who was unbeaten in 22 paid fights, learndc a boxing lesson by the 19-year-old Shahbakhsh, who delivered a brilliant performance and won all the three rounds decisively.

Scoring a box-off victory, he claimed a spot in the men’s featherweight (57kg) division at the 2020 Asia & Oceania Qualification Tournament.

The other members of the Iranian boxing team, headed by Alireza Estaki, who will fight against rivals later today include Ashkan Rezaei (63kg) and Shahin Mousavi (75kg).

Five other Iranian boxers namely Omid Ahmadi Safa (52kg), Sajad Kazemzadeh (69kg), Ehsan Rouzbahani (81kg), Toofan Sharifi (91kg) and Iman Ramezanpour (+91kg) have been eliminated from the tournament.

A total of 151 boxers from 35 countries have participated in the event that concludes today (March 11).

Iran is scheduled to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo from July 24 to August 9.

Since the nation’s debut in 1948, Iranian athletes have attended every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics./MNA/

Iranian short film ‘Driving Lessons’, directed by Marzieh Riahi, has won an award at the 21st edition of Through Women’s Eyes International Film Festival (TWE) in the US.

‘Driving Lessons’ tells the story of Bahareh, a young girl who, according to Iranian law, must have a man from among her relatives accompany her on driving lessons so she and her male instructor won’t be alone.

The Iranian film won the festival’s Best Short Narrative award.

Through Women’s Eyes International Film Festival (TWE) is an international film festival offering films with a focus on international women’s issues, stories, and lives as well as films on any topic by women filmmakers. TWE is a fundraiser for the US National Committee for UN Women (USNC), an arm of the United Nations.

TWE is a volunteer-staffed festival and all net proceeds of TWE are donated to the USNC for advocacy programs and to support the work of UN Women worldwide, according to the festival’s organizers.

The 21st edition of the event was held on March 6-8, 2020 in Florida.

‘Driving Lessons’ has also recently won the Best Narrative award at the 42nd Big Muddy Film Festival in the US. / MNA/

An official with Iran’s Vice-Presidency of Science and Technology said that the country will soon start mass production of home-grown coronavirus test kits.

Head of the Strategic Technology Development Center at Vice-Presidency of Science and Technology, Esmaeil Ghaderifar, said on Saturday that the body is ready to support efforts to contain the outbreak.

He said that producing related test kits is an essential step and fortunately, the body is working with several knowledge-based in this regard. The Strategic Technology Development Center is facilitating the process of giving required licenses to these kits by the Health Ministry so that the mass production would soon begin, Ghaderifar added.

He went on to say that researchers at Iran University of Medical Sciences have started research to develop the mRNA vaccines against the novel coronavirus.

The number of people infected with Covid-19 has hit 593 in Iran, said Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour on Saturday. He added that 123 Covid-19 patients have recovered and left hospitals while the death toll has raised to 43./M.N.A/

The Japanese city Fujisawa will be hosting a two-day Iranian film event by screening notable Iranian features, such as ‘The Painting Pool’ and ‘So Close, So Far’.

The program is part of the first provincial Iranian film festival in Japan, organized by the Iranian embassy in Tokyo in cooperation with the municipality of Fujisawa in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

The screening program, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, includes ‘The Painting Pool’ by Maziar Miri, and ‘So Close, So Far’ by Reza Mirkarimi, and ‘Sweet Taste of Imagination’ by Kamal Tabrizi.

Other titles to be screened during the two-day event include ‘Crazy Rook’ by Abolhassan Davoudi, ‘Bodyguard’ by Ebrahim Hatamikia, and the documentary ‘The Last Supper’ by Mohammad Ghanefard.

All films will be presented with Japanese subtitles. /M.N.A/

The Iranian films “Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness”, “Sunless Shadows” and “Coup 53” will go on screen at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.

Directed by Masud Bakhshi, “Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness” is about a young woman, Maryam, who has been sentenced to death for murdering her husband, Nasser. Iranian law allows for the victim’s family to forgive her and spare her life, so Maryam’s fate will be decided by Nasser’s daughter, Mona, on the country’s most popular televised reality show.

In front of millions of viewers during Yalda, the winter solstice celebration, Maryam and Mona discover that forgiveness can be difficult as they relive the past.

Mehrdad Oskui is the director of the documentary “Sunless Shadows”, in which he builds a remarkable relationship with a group of adolescent girls who are serving their sentence for the grave crime of murdering their father, their husband or another male family member in an Iranian juvenile detention center.

The documentary “Coup 53 “ by Taqi Amirani is a decade-long investigation into the U.S.-designed 1953 coup against the government of Mohammad Mosaddeq in Iran.

The International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, which is one of the most important international events dedicated to cinema and human rights, will be held from March 6 to 15. / T.T/

Iran finished in the first place at the 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships on Sunday.The Iranian freestylers won eight medals in 10 weight categories in the two-day competition held in New Delhi, India.

On Sunday, 92kg wrestler Mohammadjavad Mohammadebrahim clinched a gold medal with a 11-0 win over Japanese Takuma Otsu.

Ahmad Yousef Bazrighaleh suffered a close loss to Japanese Shutaro Yamada in the 86kg final bout.

Mostafa Mohabbali Hosseinkhani beat Sumiyabazar Zandanbud from Mongolia 5 – 0 in the 74kg and won a bronze medal.

And Parviz Hadi took a bronze defeating Tajikistan’s Farkhod Anakulov 10-0 in the 125kg.

On Saturday, the Iranian wrestlers had won four medals in five weight classes.

Mojtaba Goleij took a gold beating Salywart Kadian from India 10-0 in the 97kg.

Amirhossein Hosseini lost to Uzbekistan’s Ilyas Bekbulatov 10-6 in the 70kg final match.

Amirhossein Maghsoudi seized a bronze at the 65kg after a 2-0 win over Abbos Rakhmonov from Uzbekistan.

And Ali Savadkouhi defeated Kazakhstan’s Galymzhan Usserbayef 5-0 in the 79kg bronze medal match.

Iran topped the standings with 168 points. India became runners-up with 159 points and Kazakhstan came third with 146 points. / T.T/

The 10th International Symposium on Telecommunications (Smart Communications for a Better Life), known as IST2020, is to be held on September 16-17, 2020.

As reported, the IST2020 is to focus on quantum communications, satellite and space communications, signal processing for communications, al-enabled networks, access networks and power line communications and etc.

IST2020 is of a series of biannual events organized by ICT Research Institute (Iran Telecom Research Center (ITRC)) and designed to provide an opportunity for academics and specialists in the international telecom community, to meet peers and have exchanges on the latest developments in emerging technologies, as well as progress in standards, services and applications in information and communication systems.

The symposium will feature keynotes by world-renowned speakers, contributed papers, panels, special sessions and tutorials. /MNA/

Iranian wrestlers grabbed one gold, one silver and two bronze medals on the first day of the 33rd Asian Wrestling Championships.

The Iranian wrestlers defeated all their rivals on Saturday to advance to the semi-finals of the Asian Freestyle Wrestling Championship underway in New Delhi, India.

In the first five weight categories, Mojtaba Goleij won the gold medal in the 97kg weight category.

Amir Hossein Hosseini in 70kg-category settled for tthe silver medal while Amir-Hossein Maghdoudi and Ali Savadkouhi gained the bronze medals of 65kg and 79kg categories respectively.

The 33rd Asian Wrestling Championships opened in the Indian capital New Delhi on February 18. The Greco-Roman and Women disciplines have concluded with Iran and Japan claiming the titles respectively. The event will wrap up on Sunday that is the final day of freestyle competitions. /MNA/