COVID-19: Turkey confirms death of 342 expats

By Burak Dag

ANKARA (AA) - A total of 342 overseas Turkish nationals have died due to the novel coronavirus since the beginning of the global outbreak, the country's foreign minister said on Saturday.

Speaking to broadcaster NTV, Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Turkey was planning 105 more flights to bring its citizens back from 72 countries before the beginning of the month of Ramadan on the Islamic calendar.

He said a total of more than 25,000 have been brought back to Turkey from 74 different countries.

Cavusoglu also said the Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation would meet via video conference next week at Turkey's request to discuss the pandemic.

The novel coronavirus has spread to 185 countries and regions since emerging in China last December, with the U.S. and Europe now the hardest-hit areas.

More than 2.29 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the death toll exceeding 158,000 and over 586,000 recoveries, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.