Mohammad Keshavarzzadeh Photo: Yu Tianjiao/GT

Iran welcomes the precious help and support from the international community, especially from China, in terms of donations of health and medical equipment, as well as sharing the hard-gained experiences in the fight against the coronavirus, said a senior Iranian diplomat on Monday.

Major needs fall into two categories: materials with preventive functions and equipment used for diagnosis and treatment, Iran's Ambassador to China Mohammad Keshavarzzadeh told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

The ambassador said that at this time, the Chinese health and medical authorities can provide the best advice to other countries on what is needed at any stage of the control and treatment process.

China has sent a group of medical experts to Iran, which is suffering the most serious outbreak in the Middle East, to help combat COVID-19, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Friday. 

China has also donated 5,000 nucleic acid test kits and medical supplies, including 250,000 medical masks, to Iran, the Iranian Embassy to China said via its Weibo account. 

Previously, Iran donated 1 million medical masks to China despite harsh US sanctions imposed on the Middle East country, according to the embassy.

Giving the current situation in Iran where the number of infection cases continues to rise, the diplomat said there have already been some measures taken, including canceling unnecessary cultural and religious gatherings, suspending school and university activities and implementing body temperature checks in public places.

"With regard to possible lockdown of key affected areas, the decision will be taken in accordance with relevant WHO standards, and so far the leading group on coronavirus management has not decided to do that," said the ambassador. "I believe there is nothing to be worried about since all the required measures will be evaluated and compared against scientific methods and the realities on the ground."

In response to the higher mortality rate caused by coronavirus in Iran, the ambassador said, "This is once again going far beyond realities and hinders us from looking into the situation objectively and fairly."

"All of what is happening is that as the information being gathered and updated and a better picture of affected people and areas emerges, the mortality rate is diminishing."

The diplomat stressed that in general, the experience accumulated by Iran's health system in dealing with previous trans-boundary outbreaks like H1N1 or MERS has provided remarkable insights and know-how with regard to control measures. 

"In addition to that, through close contact and coordination with the WHO and Chinese authorities, we have made use of treatment protocols published in China, translated them into Persian and put it to public access," he said.

Furthermore, various scientific directives and manuals, published by Chinese academics and institutes on the prevention of an outbreak, aimed at educating people, have also been made available, he added.