In comments at a Saturday session of the Coronavirus Fight National Headquarters, Rouhani highlighted the successful research and scientific programs the country has launched to contain and cure the novel coronavirus.

Apart from the great efforts that Iran’s medical society has made for the treatment of patients, the Islamic Republic ranks 15th in the world and is the number one country in the region and the Islamic world in the scientific field in the battle with COVID-19, the president added.

He further warned that the epidemic will possibly last long, stressing the need to observe the health regulations until a vaccine is made available to the public.

“We do not exactly know when it (coronavirus epidemic) will end, so the (health) instructions must be observed for a long time,” Rouhani added.

He also said that Iran has made such great progress in the medical sphere that many Iranian expatriates or foreigners are on the waiting list to receive treatment inside Iran.

Last month, Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki said the country has outperformed the most powerful countries in tackling the novel coronavirus pandemic despite financial problems.

The Health Ministry has already announced that 80 percent of the coronavirus positive cases in the country have fully recovered from the infectious disease and left the hospital.