Coronavirus: Pakistan, Turkey to close borders with Iran, Afghanistan bans travel
Pakistan on Sunday closed its land border with Iran while Turkey announced that it would "temporarily" close its border with the neighboring nation as alarm grows over a spike in new coronavirus infections there.
Also, Afghanistan suspended travel to the neighbouring country as fears across the region continued to grow over a jump in new coronavirus infections.
Both Afghanistan and Pakistan share long, porous borders with Iran that are often used by smugglers and human traffickers, while millions of Afghan refugees currently live in the Islamic Republic -- raising fears that the virus could easily spread over the border.
"To prevent the spread of the novel #coronavirus and protect the public, Afghanistan suspends all passenger movement (air and ground) to and from Iran," the office of the National Security Council of Afghanistan said in a statement posted on Twitter.
A provincial official in Pakistan and the country's Frontier Corps also confirmed that the country had sealed the land border with Iran.
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.
Turkey to close Iran border "temporarily"
Turkey on Sunday announced it would "temporarily" close its border with neighboring Iran as alarm grows over a spike in new coronavirus infections there.
"We have decided to shut the land border temporarily after an increase in the number of cases in our neighbor Iran," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters.
The land and railway borders will be closed from 1700 (1400 GMT) on Sunday, the minister said.
He said air traffic from Iran into Turkey would also be halted from 2000 (1700 GMT) on Sunday but departures to Iran could continue.
Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said exports from Turkey to Iran and transactions continued "in a controlled way", in comments published by the official Anadolu news agency.
Iran confirmed eight deaths from the novel coronavirus on Sunday, the highest toll of any country outside China.
Koca said Turkey was "alarmed" by the growing number of cases and forced to take the measures after speaking with the Iranian authorities.
There is not yet any confirmed incident in Turkey, with Koca saying that five suspicious cases treated in the Van province on the Iran border were negative.
Afghanistan bans travel to and from Iran
Afghanistan on Sunday suspended air and ground travel to neighbouring Iran, where millions of Afghan refugees live, as fears across the region grow over a jump in new coronavirus infections.
"To prevent the spread of the novel #coronavirus and protect the public, Afghanistan suspends all passenger movement (air and ground) to and from Iran," the office of the National Security Council of Afghanistan said in a statement on Twitter.