Turkey to thermal scan passengers from China

By Enes Kaplan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will scan all passengers travelling from China with thermal camera at airports, an official statement announced on Thursday.

In a meeting on Wednesday, the officials from the Health Ministry decided for the precautionary move amid the outbreak of a fatal virus in China’s central Wuhan city.

The statement said the Wuhan-Istanbul flights, carried out by a Chinese airline three days a week, were suspended after the Chinese government put Wuhan in quarantine.

Although the World Health Organization (WHO) is yet to issue a warning on the virus, Turkey took the preventive step, with the quarantine rooms and the medical teams at the airports working 24/7.

A total of 571 people have been infected with a new coronavirus so far and 17 people have died in China. It is similar to the virus related to the evere acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The airport and train stations were closed in Wuhan on Thursday to outgoing passengers while public transportation suspended in the city.

As of Wednesday, the virus was detected in one person in Hong Kong and Macao Chinese special administrative regions each.

The virus was also seen in the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia.