Coronavirus Scare: Countries Close Borders to Iran After 43 Infections and 8 Deaths

With Iran reporting more cases of Coronavirus and deaths, countries like Turkey, Pakistan and Armenia have closed their borders. Neighbouring Afghanistan too has imposed travel restrictions. Cases have been mounting outside of China as well, especially in Italy and South Korea.

With the death toll in Mainland China rising to 2,442 with 76,936 infections, Chinese President Xi Jinping has declared the outbreak as the "largest public health emergency" since the founding of communist China.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was concerned about a rise in cases with no clear link to China - where the virus that is officially known as COVID-19 was first detected in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late December - and called for urgent funding to support countries with weaker health systems, Al Jazeera reported.

Meanwhile, Austria stopped a train entering from Italy after two people were reported to be carrying symptoms of the virus. "Tonight, a train on its way from Venice to Munich was stopped at the Austrian border," Austria's Ministry of the Interior said. The train has now been docked at the Brenner Pass on Italian territory. "The further procedure is currently being discussed together with Italian authorities,” officials further said.

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said he would talk to his European counterparts soon to discuss how best to cope with a possible epidemic risk in Europe as Italy battles an explosion of cases.

"Tonight, there is no epidemic in France. But there is a problematic situation at the door, in Italy, that we are watching with great attention. The situation tonight is very evolutive at [the] international level. I spoke with my Italian and German counterparts ... We have agreed to have a discussion between several European health ministers, probably next week, to assess how we can together face epidemic risk," Veran told a news conference.