An Iranian infectious disease specialist urges officials to keep flights to and back from China in check to prevent another explosion of coronavirus infections in the country, as the East Asian state is grappling with a shocking surge in the number of patients diagnosed with Covid-19.
A health worker waits for people to take swab samples to test for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Shanghai on December 19, 2022. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
Speaking to Khabar Online news outlet, Minou Mohraz warned that the new sub-strain of the coronavirus’ Omicron variant, which is raging across China, may reach and grip Iran in a scenario similar to the situation that happened in early 2020.
Back then, Iranian officials came under severe criticism for failing to halt flights to China in due time as the coronavirus began to show face there. Health experts blamed the first wave of infections in Iran on that failure.
Mohraz said, “Chinese people living in Iran, both businessmen and students, may now go to and return from China for the New Year and Christmas holidays, and thus the possibility of the new virus re-entering Iran increases.”
She said the situation of the coronavirus pandemic is completely under control in Iran, and that the country has “no worries” in that regard.
The specialist added, however, that the traffic of flights should be strictly controlled at the airport in order to prevent the possibility of a re-invasion of the coronavirus this winter.
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