Islamabad, Pakistan
Pakistan has closed its border with Iran after Tehran reported casualties from the deadly coronavirus, state media reported on Monday.
According to Pakistan Public Radio, Islamabad has suspended its business activities and citizens traveling to Iran through the five existing border crossings.
The coronavirus outbreak has killed another 12 people in Iran, with 47 confirmed cases, according to Iran’s Health Ministry.
The Pakistani local government said that on the Balochistan border, the city of Taftan had been quarantined for coronavirus testing, while a hospital with 100-bed tents had been set up in the domain for pilgrims returning from Iran, state media added.
“The government is in close contact with the Iranian government to save Pakistani Zairean [pilgrims] from the coronavirus,” Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, minister of Interfaith Affairs and Harmony, said in a statement.
Qadri added that his ministry has sent a special team to Taftan to receive Pakistani pilgrims returning from Iran because of the coronavirus.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has suspended flights to Beijing and Tokyo until March 15 due to a coronavirus death, the national carrier’s spokesman, Abdullah Hafeez Khan, told Anadolu Agency by telephone.