New coronavirus cases in Turkey as 12 test positive overnight
TURKEY Turkey has identified 12 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, bringing its total to 18, marking the highest daily rise since the country announced its first case last week.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Monday that two of the new cases were related to the first case reported in the country, while seven had travelled from Europe and three from the United States. On Sunday, the country’s interior ministry announced the temporary closure of bars and nightclubs across its 81 provinces in a bit to curb the spread of the virus.
Last Wednesday, Turkey became the last major economy to report an outbreak after taking what the World Health Organization (WHO) described as “vigilant” measures to delay it. The government has since ramped up measures to halt the spread of the virus, closing schools and universities, holding sports events without spectators and halting flights to many countries. Turkey has also set up quarantine sites for more than 10,300 people returning from pilgrimages to Islam’s holy sites in Saudi Arabia. On Saturday, Koca expressed the government’s concern about new cases that might go undetected and called on citizens to selfquarantine for 14 days upon returning from abroad. “Passing health screening tests does not mean you don’t carry any risks,” he was quoted as saying by the Daily Sabah newspaper. (Al Jazeera)