TEHRAN, Feb. 03 (MNA) – The privately owned Iranian airline, Mahan Air, announced in a statement on Monday that it halts selling tickets of flights for Iran-China route by end of February 2020, due to coronavirus outbreak.

"Mahan Air informs its passengers that, based on the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran and due to the announcements made by WHO and Iran Civil Aviation Organization, no tickets will be sold for flights from Iran to China or back by the end of February 2020," the statement said.

"According to the permissions of Iran Civil Aviation Organization and based on the made agreement with China, all the flights to China or back will be exclusively made to return of Iranian passengers from China or transferring Chinese ones to their home country in February," it added.

Iranian Minister of Health and Medical Education Saeed Namaki announced on Friday night that Iran has decided to temporarily stop all flights to and from China amid the coronavirus outbreak.

According to the decisions made in an emergency meeting on Friday, led by the First Vice President Es’hagh Jahangiri and attended by several Iranian senior officials, all flights to and from China have been halted amid the coronavirus outbreak until further notice.    

The minister added that those coming back from China will be quarantined for some days before getting reunited with their families.

According to official reports, Coronavirus is less deadly than H1N1 Flu Virus but is highly contagious.

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