ISTANBUL, March 11, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Turkey announced Wednesday its first
coronavirus case, a man who had recently travelled to Europe and is in good
health.
“The test of a patient suspected of carrying the coronavirus returned
positive,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a television broadcast.
He added that the man was likely to have contracted COVID-19 while
travelling in Europe, but declined to say which country or where in Turkey
the patient had been hospitalised.
The minister also called on Turkish citizens to avoid travelling abroad if
possible.
Turkey, a tourist hub linking Europe and western Asia, had around 50
million visitors last year.
It has a population of 80 million and shares a border with Greece,
Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Syria, Iraq and Iran, the country with the third-
most infections worldwide.
Turkey has announced several measures in recent weeks to try and stop the
virus reaching the country, including thermal cameras at airports, cancelling
flights to affected countries and closing its border with Iran.
Hospitals in Istanbul and the capital Ankara have been set up to test and
quarantine patients suspected of having the virus.
After erupting in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, the novel
coronavirus has now affected societies and economies on all continents except
Antarctica.
There are more than 117,000 coronavirus cases, with 4,251 deaths across
107 countries and territories, according to a tally compiled by AFP.