ANKARA
Iran’s neighbors have closed their borders with that country due to growing concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, after more than a dozen deaths were recorded in Iran.
Iraq closed all its border crossings with Iran for three days after two Iranians died from the deadly virus on Feb. 20, but then extended its ban on access to Iranian travelers for 15 days on Monday.
Iraq closed its border crossing with Kuwait on Monday over fears of the novel coronavirus.
Turkey has also closed its border with Iran because of the outbreak, its health minister said on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, Fahrettin Koca said: “In accordance with foreign health regulations, road and rail transits from Iran to Turkey were suspended at 5 p. m. local time [14:00 GMT] on Sunday. “
Ankara also unilaterally suspended all foreign flights from Iran starting at 8 p. m. local time [17:00 GMT],” Koca said.
Afghanistan has suspended all passenger movements to and from Iran to prevent the spread of the virus and to the public, Afghanistan’s Office of the National Security Council said on Sunday.
Pakistan and Armenia have closed their doors to Iran.
On Friday, Georgia suspended all flights with Iran due to coronavirus concerns.
Kuwait announced on Friday that it would postpone travel to and from Iran in the wake of the deadly outbreak of the virus.
Earlier on Monday, Iranian state television reported the death toll from the virus in the country at 12, with 47 confirmed cases.
Iranian parliamentarian Ahmad Amiriabadi Farahani claimed that at least 50 other people had died from the coronavirus outbreak in the northern Iranian city of Qom over the past two weeks, local media reported on Monday.
In a news conference broadcast by the state television channel, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said claims that another 50 people had died of COVID-19 in Qom “are lies” and “do not reflect the truth. “
The coronavirus has set off alarm bells around the world: China on Monday reported 2,592 deaths from the outbreak and more than 77,000 confirmed cases.
Outside of mainland China, the coronavirus has spread to more than 25 other countries, in addition to the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, France, Russia, Spain and India.
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a physical emergency.