Pakistan this week sealed the Torkham land crossing with Afghanistan in an attempt to control the passage of new variants of the coronavirus into the country.

“All routes to the Durand Line (Torkham) and the Iranian border were completely sealed on Wednesday,” an official confirmed to Pajhwok Afghan News.

The closures were in line with Sunday’s announcement by the government to revise its land crossing management policy with the neighbouring countries, the official told the news agency.

Pakistan is ravaged by COVID-19 outbreak.

So far, 18677 people have died due to the deadly virus in Pakistan.