Iran Closes Land Borders With Neighbours For 15 Days Over Omicron Concerns

Iran's land borders with Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Armenia are closed for half a month from Saturday

Tehran: Iran has decided to close its land borders with neighbouring countries for 15 days to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 variant of Omicron. Ruhollah Latifi, spokesman for Iran’s Customs, said that the Iran’s land borders with Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Armenia are closed for half a month from Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.

“According to the decision of the National Headquarters for Combating the Coronavirus and the Ministry of Interior, starting from today, foreign citizens are prohibited from entering Iran for 15 days,” Itanian Fars News Agency said quoting Latifi on Saturday.

Only those who have student, medical and working visas, and residency permits will be allowed to enter Iran, Sputnik news agency reported.

Iran’s Health Ministry on Saturday reported 1,121 new Covid-19 cases, raising the country’s total infections to 6,182,905. The pandemic also claimed 42 lives in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 131,348, according to the ministry.

A total of 6,024,211 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 2,781 remain in intensive care units, it said. By Saturday, 59,464,524 Iranians have received their first vaccine doses, 51,096,388 two jabs, and 5,478,443 in the country third booster shots.

A total of 41,388,312 tests have so far been carried out across the country. On December 19, Iran detected the first Omicron case in a traveller who returned from the UAE.

(With Inputs from Agencies)