Australia will ban the entry of all foreign nationals from Iran due to concerns over the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in the country.

Foreign nationals from Iran before they enter Australia must stay in another country for 14 days, starting from one-third, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said today.

"At the current stage, there is a high probability that a large number of undiscovered cases remain, which will not be monitored or prevented when they leave Iran," Hunt said.

Citizens and permanent residents of Australia returning from Iran are required to isolate themselves 14 days. Australia also advises citizens not to visit Iran. The country currently records 25 cases of nCoV after a 63-year-old woman returned from Iran positive for the virus.

The Iranian government announced that it recorded 34 deaths from nCoV, the second highest in the world, after China. Many Iranian officials have been confirmed to be infected with nCoV, including Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Mojtaba Zolnour, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi and Senator Mahmoud Sadeghi.

The Covid-19 outbreak has been reported in 60 countries and territories after the onset in Wuhan, China, December 2019. The epidemic has infected more than 85,000 people, of which nearly 3,000 have died and more than 39,000 have been cured worldwide.