Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been the subject of mockery on social media after it revealed a new device that it claimed can detect any coronavirus cases within a 100-meter radius.

Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.



The device can identify infected individuals as well as contaminated areas within a 100-meter range, the head of the IRGC Hossein Salami said, adding it had an 80 percent success rate. It can allegedly detect the virus without a blood test.



“When the device’s antenna is pointed at a specific location, it will detect the contaminated spot within five seconds,” explained Salami.



“How can the IRGC detect a virus the size of a nanometer from a distance of 100 meters, but could not identify something as large as a passenger plane?” tweeted one user, referring to the IRGC’s “accidental” drowning of a Ukrainian civilian airliner with 176 on board in January.



Another social media user pointed out that the IRGC’s device resembles fake bomb detectors sold to governments around the world by convicted British fraudster James McCormick.



The device also appears to resemble a “fuel detector” which Iran unveiled in 2017 to limit the smuggling of fuel out of the country, another user tweeted.



“This device can detect any oil products concealed in large vehicles within a 300-meter radius … it can also identify the amount of fuel and alert the user in less than five seconds,” the official IRNA news agency quoted an official as saying at the time.



The device works by “creating an electronic field and a two-pole property,” the official added.



These remarks are almost identical to General Salami’s remarks at the unveiling ceremony of the IRGC’s coronavirus detection device.



Salami said that the device works by “creating a magnetic field and using a bipolar virus inside the device” and added that it can detect any “contaminated spot within five seconds.”



A video of the device being tested at a medical center showed the device failing to detect coronavirus from a close distance.

Health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpour said on Wednesday that the device has not been approved by the health ministry.



The accepted testing method in most countries is typically a nasal swab that collects cells from deep in a patient’s nose. The sample is then tested in a lab where it is determined if a patient has coronavirus.

Read more:

Iran's IRGC's new detection device not approved by ministry

Iran’s IRGC unveils new device it says can detect the virus

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Last Update: Thursday, 16 April 2020 KSA 17:30 - GMT 14:30