BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 24
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iran has banned all flights from India and Pakistan to Iran and vice versa, Spokesman for Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) Mohammad Hassan Zibakhsh said, Trend reports citing the organization.
Zibakhsh emphasized that according to the decision of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran, all flights will be suspended from 00:00 tonight due to the spread of a mutated strain of the coronavirus in the two countries.
The spokesman added that the reception of citizens of the mentioned countries through other countries is also prohibited.
"Currently, Iran has restrictions on flights to 41 countries. Iran bans flights to countries with special risks in both directions. At the same time, the citizens of countries on the list of very dangerous countries must take the test again in Iran,” he said.
The official also noted that only the results of PSR tests of laboratories in foreign countries approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran are considered reliable.
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from Iranian officials, over 2.37 million people have been infected, and 69,120 people have already died.
Meanwhile, over 1.86 million people have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.
A total of 741,000 people have been vaccinated in Iran so far. About 584,000 people were vaccinated in the first stage, and 157,000 people were vaccinated in the second stage.