Turkey suspends flights to Afghanistan and Iran

Turkey on Sunday suspended flights from Iran and Afghanistan in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry, Anadolu Agency reported.

“Flights to Iran and Afghanistan from Turkey have been suspended by our government as part of preventive measures against coronavirus,” said the ministry in a statement.

The airline sector has been one of the hardest hit as countries lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.

A message to passengers meanwhile, on Turkish Airlines’ website currently reads: “Some of our July flights have been suspended in accordance with updated coronavirus protocols regarding international flights.”

Sunday’s move to cancel flights comes after Iran’s president on Saturday estimated as many as 25 million Iranians could have been infected with the coronavirus since the outbreak’s beginning and urged the public to take the pandemic seriously, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

President Hassan Rouhani cited a new Iranian Health Ministry study in offering the unprecedentedly high number of infections. 

Officials have not explained what the report’s estimates are based on and the study has not been made public. 

Rouhani also said he believes an additional 30-35 million people could be infected in the coming months, again without citing the basis for his estimate. 

Iran’s population is around 81 million people.

Iran has seen the worst outbreak in the Middle East, with more than 270,000 confirmed cases and at least 13,979 deaths.