Coronavirus scare; Pakistan shuts train services with Iran

• Four trains used to run between Quetta and Taftan each month, which have returned to their stations.

After Pakistan’s closure of land border with Iran, the county has also suspended its freight services amid risk of coronavirus epidemic, it was learnt on Wednesday.

Pakistan has stopped Quetta to Taftan railway traffic, informed Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed while talking to media. The minister said that four trains used to run between Quetta and Taftan each month, which have returned to their stations.

The minister added that it has now been decided to shut down all four trains, amid concerns of coronavirus.

The railways’ minister has asked passengers to cancel their all luggage bookings.

Meanwhile, all passengers entering Pakistan will be required to submit a health declaration form, which will include their contact details and brief travel history, in order to block possible transmission of a novel coronavirus in the country, according to the health authorities.

A health declaration card will be distributed amongst all passengers on flights traveling to Pakistan.

They will have to fill-up the form and hand it over to health officials upon arrival at airports across the country.

Cross border trade activities have been suspended due to the closure of Pak-Iran border, after Pakistan on Sunday closed its land border with Iran, as fears across the region continued to grow over a jump in new coronavirus infections.

Long rows of vehicles remain stranded on both sides of the border. Pakistan has also began quarantining hundreds of persons returning from Iran near the Iranian border as fears spiralled over the growing toll from the coronavirus in the region.

The ongoing coronavirus health scare has so far killed more than 2,400 people, with about 80,000 infected globally, though China remains by far the worst hit.