Iran extends suspension of UK flights as minister confirms first case of British Covid

Iran has extended a two-week suspension of flights to and from the UK until the end of January due to concerns over the new fast-spreading coronavirus strain, the head of the country’s Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) says.

The decision came as reports said Iran had detected the first case of infection with the new strain of the coronavirus found in Britain. On Tuesday, Health Minister Saeed Namaki confirmed the case.  

National flag carrier Iran Air and Turkish Airlines, which carry out regular flights between Tehran and destinations in Britain, suspended them on Dec. 20 “due to the new circumstances in the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom".

The suspension was extended on Monday, CAO head Turaj Dehghani Zanganeh told Iran’s official IRNA news agency.  

"We do not accept any travelers from the UK either by direct or connecting flight," he said. “We have informed all domestic and foreign airlines as well as travel agents that no passengers originating from London should enter Tehran."

If an airline or travel agency is found to have sold ticket or transported a passenger from Britain to Iran, it will definitely be dealt with, the official said.

Moreover, any traveler from destinations in the UK will be quarantined and the flight license of the offending airline will be revoked, he added.

Like many other international airlines, Turkish Airlines has suspended UK flights until the end of January. Dehghani Zanganeh said Iran has also asked Qatari and UAE airlines not to bring any passengers from the UK.   

European countries suspend flights to UK over new coronavirus strain

European countries are suspending flights to and from the UK as a new and much more transmissible strain of coronavirus takes hold in South East England

The Islamic Republic, the official said, is using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Covid-19 tests or checking passports to identify travelers coming via connecting flights.

"If the Ministry of Health deems the situation critical, the cancellation of flights will be extended again," he said.

On Tuesday, Iranians took a sigh of relief after health officials said the coronavirus death toll had declined back to double digits for the first time in months.

“The number of deaths from the corona fell to 98 today, which is the result of the efforts of our colleagues, who will be appreciated in a timely manner,” Namaki said.  

However, he admitted Iran’s first case of the more contagious strain of the coronavirus in “a dear compatriot who had come from England and is hospitalized in a private clinic”.

“His test of the mutated strain of Covid-19 was confirmed by our colleagues,” Namaki said in televised remarks.

“This patient, aware of the condition, had isolated himself from friends and family from the first day, and fortunately, there were no symptoms of the disease among his close contacts,” the minister added.

Also, a medical doctor suspected of having the new strain in Iran’s western Kurdistan province had tested negative.

“All his 240 close contacts were also examined, but fortunately their test was also negative,” Namaki said.  

Iran is fighting the coronavirus pandemic amid unilateral US sanctions which Donald Trump has refused to lift, with many observers believing the American president is using the occasion to squeeze Tehran further under his “maximum pressure” policy. 

Iran detected 6,113 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 days, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said Tuesday, raising the overall number of infections to 1,255,000. The new deaths of 98 also took the overall toll to 55,784, she added.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday England was adopting a new national lockdown that he hoped would be tough enough to contain the new, highly contagious variant of Covid-19.

People can only leave their homes to shop for essentials, work if they can’t from home, exercise, go to the doctor’s and escape domestic abuse, he said in an announcement. Primary schools, secondary schools and colleges will also move to remote learning Tuesday, except in rare cases, he said.

“I completely understand the inconvenience and distress this change will cause millions of people and parents up and down the country,” Johnson said. “The problem isn’t that schools are unsafe for children ... the problem is that schools may act as vectors of transmission, causing the virus to spread between households.”

The UK’s chief medical officers recommended the country move to alert level 5, meaning that if the country doesn’t take action the National Health Service capacity “may be overwhelmed in 21 days,” Johnson said.

The changes come as the UK grapples with the more transmissible variant of Covid-19. To date, the country has recorded over 2.6 million cases of coronavirus and more than 75,000 related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Johnson said the number of deaths was up by 20% over the last week and “will sadly rise further”.

“With most of the country already under extreme measures, it’s clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control while our vaccines are rolled out,” Johnson said, noting that the mutated strain is estimated to be 50% to 70% more contagious.

Johnson warned earlier Monday that the UK had “tough, tough weeks to come” and there was “no question” tougher measures would be implemented.

Ahead of the announcement, more than three-quarters of England were living under the toughest level of restrictions.

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