Iran bars travelers from 32 countries to contain pandemic

TEHRAN, Iran

Iran has imposed travel bans on passengers from 32 high-risk countries to tackle the spread of coronavirus and its new strains, an official said.

The spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Organisation of Iran unveiled new coronavirus restrictions on Sunday, saying passengers arriving directly or indirectly from 32 high-risk countries would be banned from entering Iran.

Travellers coming from one of the 32 states or passengers who have stayed in one of those countries for more than four hours during the past two weeks are barred from entering Iran, Mohammad Hassan Zibakhsh said.

The updated list of high-risk countries includes the UK, Angola, South Africa, Argentina, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Eswatini, French Guinea, Lesotho, Guyana, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Seychelles, Suriname, Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

All passengers above the age of 8 including Iranian citizens; coming from abroad must present a valid negative COVID‑19 test certificate at the port of entry, he added.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has ordered the authorities to step up their vigilance to keep the county away from the new strains of the coronavirus.