Turkey at high risk for coronavirus: Health minister

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - The possibility of coronavirus reaching Turkey is very high although no cases were reported so far, the country's health minister said Tuesday.

"The possibility of this epidemic in Turkey is very high. We can just say this: The virus has not been detected yet [in Turkey]," Fahrettin Koca told the members of Turkish parliament's health committee.

He warned Turkish citizens to take precautions against the virus in the coming month.

"We should limit human touch, travel abroad as little as possible, self quarantine ourselves, and take special care of the elderly," he added.

Last month, Turkey closed its border gates with Iran, one of the worst-hit countries by the coronavirus, and cancelled all flights to the country.

All 132 passengers and 10 crew on a charter flight to bring back Turkish citizens from Iran were taken to hospital for observation.

Those who had not been to Iran's pilgrimage sites of Mashhad or Qom were discharged on March 2 -- after testing negative for coronavirus.

The global death toll from coronavirus is over 4,000 with more than 113,000 confirmed cases in 110 countries, according to the World Health Organization.