Call for Tighter Border Control Amid Virus Concerns

President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday called for strict control measures along Iran’s eastern borders to stave off the spread of an Indian variant of the coronavirus.
“All authorities must strictly monitor eastern borders; negligence will not be tolerated,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by his website.
A double mutant variant of the coronavirus detected in India has raised worldwide concern over the highly contagious strain, with several countries, including Iran, canceling flights to the South Asian country.
“We need to be careful,” the president said, pointing to Iran’s failed attempt at preventing the entry of the British strain of the virus into the country.
While Iran had banned travel to Britain, the virus sneaked into western provinces through Iraq.
The British variant is now the dominant strain in the country with 70-90% prevalence and it has triggered a fourth wave of the disease that has filled hospital beds to capacity.
Roughly 19,300 more people contracted the novel coronavirus on Friday, taking the national tally of cases to 2.499 million. The Health Ministry reported 407 new deaths on Friday, bringing the total toll to 71,758.
Over 151 million have so far tested positive for Covid-19 around the world and 3.18 million have died from it.