Iran Chamber Newsroom Iranian authorities have made presenting a negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test compulsory for all inbound flight passengers in Tehran from August 5. The PCR test results are required to be dated within 96 hours of arrival
Iranian authorities have made presenting a negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test compulsory for all inbound flight passengers in Tehran from August 5. According to the guidelines posted on the website of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport (IKA), the PCR test results are required to be dated within 96 hours of arrival in the country and to be carried out by a qualified laboratory. The PCR documents need to be in English. Passengers with non-Iranian nationality will not be allowed into the country if they do not carry a certificate of a negative PCR test result, said Mohammad Reza Karimian, deputy director of Imam Khomeini airport (IKA). Karimian said that Iranian citizens failing to provide a PCR result test will have to incur the costs of a test and a forced 48-hour quarantine that follows it. Even passengers with a negative test could be subject to quarantine measures if they are deemed suspicious on arrival at IKA, he said.
Iran, the hardest hit country in the Middle East by COVID-19, is struggling to reduce the risk of imported disease cases amid increased international travel to the region. Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs has also stopped issuing tourist and pilgrimage visas due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus.