YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian foreign ministry is advising Armenian citizens to avoid all but essential travel to Iran as the neighboring country is reporting novel coronavirus cases.

“In terms of comprehensive assessment of the situation in the region we are closely cooperating with our colleagues in Iran and Georgia in the direction of information exchange, as well as necessary measures and consideration of possible scenarios. We will give additional updates on the measures taken. We urge Armenian citizens to refrain from visiting Iran without urgent need, and we call on our citizens who are currently in Iran to contact the Embassy of Armenia -+98(21)66704833//+98(21)66760509 (landline),  +989121051639 (mobile), email - armiranembassy@mfa.am”, the foreign ministry said in a statement on February 22.

So far, 28 cases of the Covid-2019 have been confirmed in Iran. Six people have died from the virus. Iranian authorities in the affected provinces have shut down schools, universities and cultural centers to contain the outbreak. They include Qom, Markazi, Gilan, Ardabil, Kermanshah, Qazvin, Zanjan, Mazandaran, Golestan, Hamedan, Alborz, Semnan, Kurdistan and the capital, Tehran, Al Jazeera reported.

On February 21, Lebanon confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus, a woman who returned from Qom, Iran. The United Arab Emirates announced two new cases on Saturday – an Iranian tourist and his wife.

According to Al Jazeera, Iraq has banned border crossings by Iranian nationals and the Iraqi Airways halted flights to Iran.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan