clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

2,721 students from 8 countries brought back, Turkey’s FM says

March 25, 2020 at 1:06 pm

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Istanbul, Turkey on 11 January 2020 [Fatih Aktaş/Anadolu Agency]

2,721 Turkish students from eight countries have been brought home on 11 flights, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu said Wednesday.

“They have been placed in a 14-day quarantine in dorms in Samsun, Sakarya and Sivas provinces,” Cavusoglu said.

The minister also said at least 32 Turkish citizens living abroad have died so far due to the novel coronavirus.

The majority of the deceased lived in Europe and some families have requested the remains be brought back home, but did not provide any additional details, he said.

READ: Turkey to take over medical face mask factories

On Tuesday, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said the Turkish military has established a centre to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus outbreak among members.

“We have not had any incidents so far, and we will complete our duties without one,”Akar said in a news conference.

Turkey has so far recorded 1,872 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, with a death toll at 44, according to the Health Ministry.

After emerging in Wuhan, China, in the last month of 2019, the virus has spread to at least 170 countries and regions.

READ: 21 Turkmen die in Istanbul after drinking fake, anti-coronavirus alcohol 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared it a pandemic.

Out of more than 424,000 confirmed cases worldwide, the death toll now exceeds 18,900, while over 109,000 have recovered.