New Delhi: Pakistan has temporarily closed its border with Iran in response to reported cases of coronavirus in the neighbouring country.
Iran has reported at least 43 cases of the disease so far.
“We have closed all the five entry points — Taftan, Gwadar, Turbat, Panjgur and Washuk — at the border with Iran on Sunday,” a news report in Dawn said, quoting provincial home minister Ziaullah Langove. The Quetta dateline story also added that the government had taken the decision as a precautionary measure since deaths had been reported in Qom and other towns of Iran.
Sources told the newspaper that about 200 people including Pakistani pilgrims “had reached Mir Jawa, the Iranian border crossing point, to enter Pakistan but they had not been allowed to cross into Pakistan as the immigration office had also been closed”.
“Without strict screening no one will be allowed to enter Pakistan,” a senior FIA official told Dawn.
However, the Iranian spokesperson at the consulate office in Quetta said his government has not put any restriction on travel from Pakistan and its border gates are open. The spokesperson said the consulate is also issuing visas to Pakistanis including pilgrims.
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The news report said hundreds of pilgrims who had crossed over to Iran for pilgrimage have been stuck at Qom and Mashhad towns. It said the spokesperson for the Balochistan government Liaquat Shahwani had “confirmed (to the newspaper) that there were about 5,000 Pakistan nationals in Iran”.
Shahwani said, “We would ask the Iranian authorities to screen these people and they would be allowed to return after they are cleared in the screening.” He had earlier said they could return in March.
As many as 7,664 persons including traders and pilgrims who had recently returned to Pakistan from Iran would also be screened, he added.
On Sunday, Turkey decided to close its border with Iran as a precautionary measure.
Turkish health minister Fahrettin Koca was quoted in news reports on February 23 as saying that all highways and railways would be shut at 5 pm local time on Sunday and all flights from Iran would be suspended.