Govt swings into action; suspends flights to Iran.

Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday shut schools in several areas and suspended flights to and from Iran to try to stop the spread of new coronavirus, after reporting its first cases of the infection, officials said.

Authorities shut schools in Sindh, including Karachi where the first case was reported, and Balochistan, which borders Iran. They also began to trace nearly 8,000 pilgrims who recently returned to the country from Iran.

The Civil Aviation Authority said it is suspending all flight operations with Iran starting from Thursday evening till further notice. "We have decided to close the flights with Iran," aviation's spokesman Sattar Khokhar said.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said the 28 pilgrims whom the first cases were part of have been traced and will be scanned and monitored. "We're going to the next step," he told a news conference in Karachi, adding that the Sindh government is out to trace all the 1,500 people who returned to the province from Iran in the month of February. There are a total 8,000 such pilgrims across the country, he said. "We're locating each one of them," Shah said, adding they will go through 15 days of strict monitoring before being allowed to leave their homes. Shah said all these people and anyone who have got in touch with them has to be isolated.

On Thursday morning, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza called on people who have recently travelled to virus-hit countries to call on the helpline. "If you or somebody you know have recently returned from China, Iran or a country where #COVID?19 is prevalent and if there are symptoms like fever, cough, difficulty in breathing, please report by calling at 1166," he said.

The 22-year-old first patient from Pakistan travelled to Iran where he acquired COVID-19, Media Coordinator to Health and Sindh Population Welfare Minister Meeran Yousuf said in a statement. The patient travelled from Iran to Karachi by plane on February 20. He and his family have been placed in quarantine and the Health Department is in the process of examining all the passengers that he travelled with, the statement added.

Yousuf said the Sindh government has informed the federal government, World Health Organisation and other partners about the confirmation of the virus in the patient. "The passengers who travelled with him were exposed as well; we will track down all the passengers and carry out...