Turkey isolates 511 citizens from Iraq over coronavirus

By Arif Yavuz

AFYONKARAHISAR, Turkey (AA) - A total of 511 Turkish nationals who arrived from Iraq were quarantined Tuesday for 14 days to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to local sources.

The passengers, who arrived at noon at Esenboga Airport in the capital Ankara, were transported to Afyonkarahisar province on 23 buses accompanied by police and gendarmerie.

In a bid to enforce social distancing, they were housed in single-room student dormitories after checking their temperatures.

While the police teams took security measures around the building, provincial municipality teams disinfected the buses.

Apart from general medical and other required support, psychologists and sociologists on duty will also support the citizens in quarantine.

Turkey confirmed Tuesday that 76 more people in the country had died from the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 725, while its total number of confirmed cases surged to 34,109 as 3,892 more people tested positive, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters.

After first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the virus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 184 countries and regions, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

The data shows over 1.43 million cases have been reported worldwide with the death toll more than 82,000 and over 301,100 recoveries.

*Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev from Ankara