Turkish Airlines suspends flights to Iran

ANKARA

Turkish Airlines has suspended its flights to four destinations in Iran until Feb. 27 amid the coronavirus outbreak, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Feb. 24.

The flag carrier has canceled its flights to Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Tabriz. It also reduced the number of daily trips to Tehran to two.

Although there are no restrictions on passengers traveling to the Iranian capital, only Turkish passengers are accepted on return flights.
Turkey has also temporarily closed its land borders and train services with the Islamic republic.

Twelve people have died and 61 have been infected with the coronavirus in Iran, Tehran's health ministry said on Feb. 24.

However, a member of parliament said 50 people had died in the city of Qom, 120 kilometers south of the capital Tehran, alone in the past two weeks from the coronavirus.

Local media on Feb. 25 reported that two more Iranians infected with a coronavirus have died, taking to 14 the toll in the Islamic Republic, which has the highest tally of deaths outside China, where the virus emerged late last year.

"Tests showed they had the new coronavirus," the head of the Medical Science University of Saveh said, according to media website Eghtesaonline