Armenia is extending the closure of its border with Iran, where an outbreak of the coronavirus has killed at least 66 people, by March 24, according to a government decision adopted on Monday, March 2.

Also Monday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said the country will also suspend its visa-free regime for Iranian citizens within the next five days.

Armenia reported its first case of coronavirus on Sunday, March 1 morning, in a citizen returning from Iran. The 29-year-old man went to a doctor because he was not feeling well, just days after arriving in the country on February 28.

Authorities have thus isolated those who had been in close contact with the man, including his wife, at a disused five-star hotel in the ski resort town of Tsaghkadzor.