Iraq's fear of the corona virus: borders with Iran closed for the time being

Friday, February 21, 2:50 a.m .: Iraq has closed its border with the neighboring country out of fear of the Corona virus, which has now also been detected in Iran. Iranians are no longer allowed to cross the crossings, and Iraqis arriving from the Islamic Republic will be subjected to examinations ordered by the Ministry of Health, the Iraqi border agency said on Thursday. The entry ban for Iranians should initially apply for three days. State-of-the-art airline Iraqi Airways has also suspended its connections to Iranian destinations, according to Iraqi media reports.

This is due to two deaths in the Iranian city of Qom attributed to the pathogen SARS-CoV-2, which were reported by the authorities on Wednesday - although not a single infection had previously been recorded in the country. The dead are said to be two older men who, according to the information, had not been outside their hometown of Qom. They also had no contact with Chinese tourists.

All schools and universities in Qom have been provisionally closed, the state news agency IRNA reported. The almost 1.2 million inhabitants of the city, 140 kilometers south of Tehran, were called upon to avoid physical contact.

The exact extent of possible infections in Iran is unclear. While the state radio assured the population that everything was under control, the Home Office convened an emergency meeting. With parliamentary elections scheduled for Friday, there was also concern that fear of the virus could lower turnout.