“Medical teams are present on the other side of the borders, but within our own borders, the state of medical services is very poor,” Ahmad Karimi was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
Noting that presently the most crowded border-crossing is the Iran-Pakistan Mirjaveh border, Karimi said, “So far, there has been no report of truck drivers being sickened by the virus.”
Border closures by neighboring countries in recent days have resulted in long queues of Iranian truckers stranded in border areas, according to Financial Tribune.
Since many are carrying perishable goods, they risk incurring huge losses, if the situation were to prolong.
Iranian authorities have already ordered the return of some of the exporting trucks, but many remain stranded.
Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Armenia closed their borders with Iran in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Turkmenistan and Iraq followed suit, as the epidemic began to spread.
Notably, both Afghanistan and Pakistan share long, porous borders with Iran, which are often used by smugglers and human traffickers, while millions of Afghan refugees live in the Islamic Republic, raising fears of the virus spreading across the border.