Afghanistan Reopens Common Border with Iran

TEHRAN (defapress) – Afghanistan has reopened its common border with Iran, a day after closing it amid concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus, the spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Security Council said.

News ID: 80323

Date: 25 February 2020 - 12:45

In a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday, NSC Spokesman Javid Faisal said a committee formed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus had decided that control measures should be put in place on the Afghanistan-Iran border to allow passenger movement.

From now on, Afghanistan’s border with Iran is open on both sides, and it is possible to travel between the two countries, he added.

On Monday, Afghanistan confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country.

Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki on Monday said the number of people who have died from the coronavirus in the country has risen to 12 and the total number of confirmed cases to 47, according to an MP.

In an interview with Tasnim, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s presiding board said the Health Minister has announced in a closed-door session of the parliament on Monday that the number of cases admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 infection has reached 47 and the death toll has risen to 12.

The minister has also noted that two coronavirus cases have been detected in capital Tehran, both of whom had traveled to the city of Qom, where the first cases of coronavirus were reported in Iran, Asadollah Abbasi said.

The lawmaker said families in the province of Qom are being given free packages including masks and detergents.

The Health Ministry says the source of contagion in Iran were the individuals returning to Iran from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China, some of whom have crossed the border illegally, the MP added.

China had 150 new confirmed coronavirus deaths on Sunday, the National Health Commission announced on Monday, pushing the death toll nationwide to 2,592.

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