"The last flight will arrive from Moscow tomorrow, after which all flights from and to Syria will be suspended", Hammoud told Sham FM radio station.

The flight from Moscow to Damascus is operated by the Syrian Air flag carrier.

While Syria has no confirmed cases of the virus so far, its neighbor Iran has registered more than 19,000 COVID-19 cases, while another neighbor, Turkey, has also seen a nearly double increase in the number of people infected, with 670 cases confirmed so far.

Experts warned that for the war-torn Syria coronavirus epidemic would be a catastrophe.

As of today, the new coronavirus has spread to more than 180 countries, with more than 234,000 confirmed cases and over 9,800 deaths registered so far, according to the latest situation update by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Reporter’s code: 50101