TEHRAN (FNA)- An official with the Industry Ministry said that Iran has succeeded in multiplying production of various items and equipment to help the nationwide battle against COVID-19.

"There were only 200,000 masks produced before the coronavirus outbreak domestically in the country and now its production has 11-folded and reached 2,300,000 per day," Secretary of the Logistic Headquarters of the Industry Ministry for Campaign against Coronavirus Jamshid Golpour told FNA on Saturday.

He also added that the country is now manufacturing 145,000 N95 masks on a daily basis, noting that 400,000 liters of disinfectants are now produced in Iran, 8 times more than the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.

"Also, production of medical gloves has two-folded and amounted to 4.5mln per day now," Golpour said.

Meanwhile, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that the country will increase the number of its hospital beds to 8,000 by the end of the current Iranian year (March 19).

"We will add 8,000 hospital beds by the yearend," Rouhani said, addressing a meeting of the national coronavirus campaign headquarters in Tehran on Saturday.

He added that 1,500 hospital beds for special cases have also been added to the capacity of the country's medical system since the outbreak of coronavirus in the country, noting that 2 drug production lines are also added every month to the country's pharmaceutical capacity.

President Rouhani also praised the country's medical staff for their hard work which helped control coronavirus epidemic and treat patients, saying that their performance is comparable to what their colleagues have done in other countries in area of campaign against coronavirus.

He, meantime, referred to the Iranian Armed Forces' preparedness to treat the coronavirus patients after the outbreak of the disease, and said thanks God, given the medical staff's hard work, the beds prepared by the Armed Forces have not been needed yet.

Moreover, Rouhani said on Saturday that wearing mask will be compulsory in crowded and public places as of Sunday (July 5).

Rouhani said that people will receive services at various organizations, provided that they observe health protocols and wear masks.

The employees of different offices can also go to work only with masks, he added.

Meantime, a senior Iranian medical official said that nearly 18mln people in Iran have so far been infected with the COVID-19 virus.

"Between 15% to 20%, nearly 18mln, of Iranians have been infected with coronavirus," senior member of the coronavirus campaign committee, Masoud Mardani, said on Saturday.

He also said that the coronavirus vaccine will be available to the public by the end of fall or early winter, stressing the need for the public to wear mask and meet hygiene protocols to prevent coronavirus infection.

The Iranian health ministry announced on Saturday that 2,449 new cases of infection to COVID-19 virus have been diagnosed in the country in the past 24 hours, adding that 1,148 patients have been hospitalized.

"2,449 more patients infected with coronavirus have been identified in the country in the past 24 hours, while 1,148 patients have been hospitalized," Iranian Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on Saturday.

Sadat Lari added that the number of people infected with COVID-19 amounted to 237,878 in the country.

“Unfortunately, 148 patients lost their lives during the past 24 hours, increasing the number of the dead to 11,408,” she noted.

The health ministry spokeswoman expressed pleasure that 198,949 patients have recovered or been discharged from hospitals.

Sadat Lari voiced concern that 3,136 coronavirus patients are in critical conditions.

She also informed that 1,769,520 COVID-19 diagnostic tests have been conducted in the country.

The spokeswoman said that Khuzestan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Hormozgan, Bushehr, Khorasan Razavi, East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan and Ilam provinces are in red condition; while Tehran, Lorestan, Fars, Isfahan, Mazandaran, Hamedan, Zanjan, Alborz and Sistan and Balouchestan provinces are in a status of alert.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last month that over 1,000 medical centers in the country have received necessary equipment to conduct tests on people suspected of infection to coronavirus, and added that Iran ranks first in the Muslim world in scientific achievements.

"Based on a report [by the health ministry], 1,200 centers across the country are ready to take samples and tests from people and 17,500 nursing and health homes are also prepared to provide hygiene and treatment services to people," Rouhani said, addressing a meeting of the national coronavirus campaign headquarters in Tehran.

Also, on Saturday, he said that the country will increase the number of its hospital beds to 8,000 by the end of the current Iranian year (March 19).

"We will add 8,000 hospital beds by the yearend," Rouhani said.

He added that 1,500 hospital beds for special cases have also been added to the capacity of the country's medical system since the outbreak of coronavirus in the country, noting that 2 drug production lines are also added every month to the country's pharmaceutical capacity.

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting approximately all countries and territories around the world. The virus was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. It has so far killed more than 529,400 people and infected over 11.2 million others globally.

The Iranian foreign ministry declared that despite Washington’s claims of cooperation to transfer drugs to Iran via the new Swiss-launched payment mechanism, the US is troubling the process amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Although US claims that medicines and medical equipment are not under sanctions, they have practically blocked the transfer of Iran’s financial resources in other countries into the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said.

As the death toll from the virus surges, Iran intensifies its preventive safety measures. Closures of schools and most universities have been extended until further notice.