Coronavirus keeps Iran’s nomads from rolling pastures amid ban

Iran is about to extend a ban on the migration of its nomads to protect them from the novel coronavirus and seasonal floods.

According to Press TV, Head of the Nomads Affairs Organization of Iran Karamali Qandali said on Tuesday “To prevent nomads from coming in contact with population centers, we have decided to delay their migration.”

Iran has about 1.2 million nomads who make the same migration their ancestors followed for millennia - heading for cooler pastures where grass for their flocks of sheep and goats is abundant in spring and returning to villages and towns or warmer grasslands at the end of fall.

Qondali said only two nomadic families - one in North Khorasan and another in South Khorasan – have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.

“After being diagnosed with the disease, both families were quarantined and the information we received from the University of Medical Sciences shows that one of them has completely recovered and the other is recovering.”

His organization, the official said, has asked the government for funds to move nomads and livestock by car and truck.

“The negative effects of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy of nomads, like any other community, will soon show themselves for which we must be prepared to face them,” he added.

Main tribes of Iranian nomads are known as Turkmen, Shahsavans, Lurs, Bakhtiaries, and Qashqaies.

The Zagros Mountains are home to the biggest population of Iranian nomads, mainly Bakhtiari and Qashqai tribes, whose economic life is based on herding.

ME