Coronavirus: Pakistan shuts schools, suspends Iran flights to curb Covid-19 spread
- One infection detected in Karachi and another in Islamabad. Pakistan had earlier closed its border with Iran, where 26 people have died from outbreak
- Both people had recently travelled to Iran as part of large groups of pilgrims from Pakistan’s Shiite community
Pakistan on Thursday shut schools in several areas and suspended flights to and from Iran to try to stop the spread of new coronavirus, after reporting its first cases of the infection, officials said.
The South Asian nation bordering China and Iran, both of which have been hit hard by the virus, reported its first two cases on Wednesday.
Both people had recently travelled to Iran as part of large groups of pilgrims from Pakistan’s Shiite Muslim community. Health officials have said both were “stable.”
Authorities shut schools in the southern province of Sindh, including the country’s largest city Karachi, where the first case was reported, and the southwestern province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran. They also began to trace nearly 8,000 pilgrims who recently returned to the country from Iran.
Pakistan’s Civil Aviation said it was suspending all flight operations with Iran starting from Thursday evening till further notice. “We have decided to close the flights with Iran,” the aviation’s spokesman Sattar Khokhar said.
Three Iranian carriers run seven flights a week to and from Pakistan.