TEHRAN, February 27 (MNA) – Chief of Iranian Immigration and Passport Police Office Mohammadreza Tabatabaei announced on Thursday that Iran permits Chinese nationals’ entry in case Iranian Health Ministry does not recognize them as coronavirus infected.The news came a while after Imam Khomeini Airport City spokesman Ali Kashani Heidari said on Thursday that according to an order issued by Iranian Immigration and Passport Police Office, entrance of all Chinese nationals to Iran is forbidden. As Kashani Heidari said, in a bid to curb coronavirus spread, all the passengers arriving in Iran are being checked at the airports and the same procedure is done for Iranians leaving the country.

Corona suspected individuals will be transferred to medical centers to receive the required treatment, he said.

Airports and its related monuments are being disinfected regularly, he added. The number of new coronavirus infections inside China - the source of the outbreak - has been overtaken by fresh cases, with Italy and Iran emerging as epicenters of the rapidly spreading illness. According to a senior official in Iran’s health ministry on Wednesday, the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak, officially known as COVID-19, in Iran rose to 26 with 245 confirmed cases. According to the latest reports, coronavirus has caused 2,800 deaths, while 80,000 people have been diagnosed with the illness across the globe. MNA/IRN83693468/TNA2212374