Iran’s health ministry increased the CoronaVirus death toll to 8 in the Islamic Republic on Sunday reports the AP. Kianoush Jahanpour, a spokesman for the country’s Health ministry told state TV that there are now 43 confirmed cases of the CoronaVirus in Iran.

The pandemic in Iran has focused on the holy Shia city of Qom. Iranian officials are blaming travelers from China for the spread of the disease.

Border Closings

Turkey will “temporarily” close its border with Iran due to coronavirus fears, it said on Sunday.

“We have decided to shut the land border temporarily after an increase in the number of cases in our neighbor Iran,” Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said to reporters.

Koca said that Turkey was “alarmed” by the rising amount of infections in Iran and was forced to take action following talks with the officials in Tehran.

Shortly after Ankara’s announcement, Pakistan said that it was following suit and also closing its border with Iran.

“We have closed our border with Iran because of the reports of coronavirus there,” said Ayesha Zehri, a senior government official in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan’s province, that borders with Iran.

Iran’s CoronaVirus chronology

The first case of the pandemic in the Islamic Republic was reported last Wednesday.

Jahanpour also said that the 15 recently confirmed cases included seven in Qom, 4 in Tehran, two in the Gilan province, one in the Markazi province, and one in the town of Tonekabon in the north. That victim died from the disease.

Also on Sunday, Iran’s health ministry admitted that travel from China transferred the virus into the country.

Iran’s Minister of Health, Saeed Namaki told state TV that the virus traveled from China to Qom. He added that one the Iranian people who died from the pandemic was a merchant who frequently commuted between the two countries on indirect flights in recent weeks, following Iran’s decision to halt direct passenger flights to China.

Despite being a holy city, Namaki urged people not to visit Qom, a spiritual pilgrimage site or Shiite Muslims.

“We obviously do not recommend traveling to Qom and other pilgrimage cities,” Namaki stated.

Iran also established 36 screening stations at different points of entry to screen travelers, he added.

Breaking Israel News reported on an imam in Qom who blamed President Trump for the spread of coronavirus.