UPDATE - Turkey to quarantine its citizens returning from Iran

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Sibel Morrow

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will quarantine for 14 days its citizens returning from Iran amid coronavirus fears, the health minister said on Tuesday.

"A special flight has been organized for Turkish citizens who want to return home from Iran,” Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

A total of 132 Turkish citizens set to fly to the capital Ankara from Iran as well as the flight crew will be quarantined in a hospital for 14 days.

Telling how Turkey has also closed its land borders and railway service with Iran and suspended most flights, Koca said all Turkish citizens who want to return from Iran will be subject to a 14-day quarantine.

“Since Feb. 21, no passengers from Qom, Iran, where coronavirus cases were seen, were allowed to enter Turkey,” Koca said, adding that these measures were taken even before land borders and railway services with Iran were both closed.

“Twenty-six foreign national passengers who showed cold symptoms were sent back as a precaution. On Feb. 21-23, 16 Turkish citizens coming from Iran who also showed cold symptoms were put under supervision," he said. "They were all tested negative.”

“No coronavirus cases have been found in Turkey,” he stressed, adding that maximal efforts are being made to prevent the spread of coronavirus to the country.

Iran has so far reported 14 deaths from the coronavirus, with 95 confirmed cases.

Coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has sounded global alarms, with China reporting 2,663 deaths from the outbreak, and health experts grappling to find a cure.

Outside mainland China, the coronavirus has spread to more than 25 other countries including the U.S., U.K., Singapore, France, Russia, Spain and India.

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak an international health emergency.