Government began quarantining over 200 people near the Iranian border, officials said Monday, as fears spiralled over the growing toll from the coronavirus in the region.
The quarantine announcement came hours after Pakistan sealed off its land border with Iran while neighbouring Afghanistan said it had detected its first infection. In Balochistan authorities moved fast to quarantine at least 200 people after piligrims returning from Iran entered the country and briefly interacted with other residents.
"We have decided not to take a chance and keep all of them under observation for the next 15 days," Najeebullah Qambrani, assistant commissioner at the Taftan border crossing, told AFP, saying 250 people were being quarantined.
Balochistan's secretary of health Mudassir Malik confirmed the quarantine but estimated that between 200 and 250 were being held.
He added that around 7,000 pilgrims had returned to Pakistan from Iran this month alone. Afghanistan and Pakistan share long, porous borders with Iran that are often used by smugglers and human traffickers, while millions of Afghan refugees currently live in the Islamic Republic - raising fears that the virus could easily spread over the border. Pakistan - bordered by China to the north and Iran to the south - also suffers the additional burden of having a lacklustre healthcare system following decades of under-investment by the state, leaving impoverished, rural communities especially vulnerable.
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