UPDATE - Turkey at high risk for coronavirus: Health minister

REVISED DECK; UPDATED WITH KOCA'S REMARKS ON TWITTER

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu and Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - The possibility of coronavirus reaching Turkey is very high although no cases have been 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 parliament's Health Committee in the capital Ankara.

Koca urged the public 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.

On reports claiming that an 86-year-old U.S. woman tested positive after visiting Turkey, Koca said that in fact she had not visited the country, but only passed through an airport.

"In records from the last two weeks, there is only one 86-year-old female U.S. national. She did not visit Turkey. On March 3, she was on a connecting flight from Tirana [Albania] to Washington via Istanbul," he said on Twitter.

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

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.