Coronavirus threat: Balochistan govt bars Pakistanis from traveling to Iran
Last updated on: 23 February,2020 08:24 pm
Coronavirus threat: Balochistan govt bars people from traveling to Iran
QUETTA (Dunya News) – Balochistan government on Sunday has banned movement of Pakistani passengers to Iran in a wake of coronavirus threat. According to details, over 100 passengers have been called back to Quetta from Taftan while the local government has also directed to establish special check posts to stop people from traveling to Iran.
Earlier, Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal had telephoned Prime Minister Imran Khan after Iran reported deaths from coronavirus.
CM Balochistan informed PM that he is personally overseeing all the measures to prevent spread of coronavirus in the province and special teams have been formed to prevent the outbreak.
Jam Kamal further said that District Health Officers were directed to take all precautions and special medical teams were also deployed in Taftan and other sensitive areas.
Pakistan share long, porous borders with Iran that are often used by smugglers and human traffickers -- raising fears that the virus could easily spread over the border.
Earlier Sunday, Iran reported eight deaths from the novel coronavirus, the highest toll of any country outside China, as the supreme leader accused foreign media of trying to use the outbreak to sabotage a general election.
The latest three deaths Iran reported on Sunday were among 15 new confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus, bringing the overall number of infections to 43 and fatalities to eight -- the highest death toll outside of China, the epicentre of the epidemic.
Four new infections surfaced in the capital Tehran, seven in the holy city of Qom, two in Gilan and one each in Markazi and Tonekabon, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said.
Authorities have ordered as a "preventive measure" the closure of schools, universities and other educational centres in 14 provinces across Iran from Sunday.
Desperate and jobless Afghans have crossed the porous border with Iran for years in search of work to support their struggling families back home.
But hundreds of thousands of Afghans have returned home in recent years as US sanctions have battered the Iranian economy.