TEHRAN – Domestic flights have been restricted to Iran’s Kish Island as coronavirus cases have mounted in the country.

Restriction on flights from and to the Kish Island started on Monday based on an agreement reached between the Kish Free Zone Organization, Transport and Urban Development Ministry, Civil Aviation Organization, and the Kish Air.

Air services, until further notice, are only provided to transfer local people and executive authorities as well as emergency measures connecting the Persian-Gulf island to the five cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas, and Mashhad.

Earlier this week, the country announced that it wants to limit intercity travel particularly between major cities in an effort to halt the virus spread.

The KFZO is in charge of handling the infrastructure affairs, development and economic growth, creating job opportunities, attracting local and foreign investors, regulating the good and labor market and ultimately utilizing the Island’s tourist potentials.

Over the past couple of decades, Kish has become a beach resort where visitors can swim, shop and sample a laid-back and relatively liberated local lifestyle. It is home to free-trade-zone status, with ever growing hotels, shopping centers, apartment blocks and retail complexes.

AFM/MG