Iran-UK flights to be suspended for 2 weeks: Ministry

Tehran, Dec 20, IRNA – An official with the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced on Sunday night that flights between Iran and the United Kingdom will be suspended for two weeks. The Deputy Minister Shahram Adamnejad told IRNA that Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education has decided to halt the flights between the two countries because of the spread of new variant of the Covid-19 disease in the United Kingdom. Given the new situation concerning the infections to the coronavirus in the UK, the ministry called for two week suspension of the flights in order to prevent the transmission of the disease and preserve public health. Simultaneous with the increase of concerns about the spread of a new strain of the Covid-19 pandemic in the southern part of the UK, some member states of the European Union have taken immediate action to prohibit all arrival flights from the country. The EU countries have adopted new regulations and imposed the emergency limits, after the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has described the newly identified strain of the coronavirus as "out of control" in respect of the rate of spread.