No known cases of coronavirus in Turkey

Duvar English

Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said that there are no known cases of coronavirus in Turkey, as the country prepares to evacuate its citizens from China's Wuhan over the virus outbreak.

Koca on Jan. 29 said that no signs of coronavirus were found in the suspected cases in the Central Anatolian province of Aksaray, the western province of İzmir and Istanbul.

Speaking in the eastern province of Malatya, Koca told reporters that the ministry has been taking necessary precautions against the virus that has spread to entire China.

"Even though the World Health Organization didn't advise us to do so, we have set up thermal cameras in airports, quarantine rooms and negative pressure ambulances since last Wednesday," Koca said, adding that the ministry has been trying to share information on the patients suspected to have been infected with the virus transparently.

Turkish citizens to be transported out of coronavirus source Wuhan

Saying that the test results of nine people in Aksaray were negative, Koca noted that the group returned to China after being discharged from the hospital.

"Today, a Turkish citizen who arrived from China in İzmir was suspected of having the coronavirus after going to a hospital with high fever. He was diagnosed with having the H1N1 virus after necessary examinations were carried out," Koca said.

'Apply to nearest health institutions'

The minister also warned against the spreading of misinformation.

"We have been acting in line with the suggestions of the Science Commission within our ministry. We also formed an operation center regarding public health. I would like to especially state that sources of wrong information shouldn't be credited," Koca said.

"We advise everyone to apply to the nearest health institution if there are complaints of fever, coughing and difficulty of breathing," he added.

When asked about the process of Turkey evacuating its citizens from China's Wuhan, Koca said that those willing to return to their countries are not infected.

A day later, Turkey sent a cargo plane to China's Wuhan to evacuate 49 people, including 34 Turkish citizens.

The evacuation process is being carried out with the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), Foreign and Health Ministries.

WHO admits error in assessing coronavirus risk

Those brought to Turkey will be kept under surveillance for 14 days.

Countries began isolating hundreds of citizens evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan on Jan. 30 to stop the spread of an epidemic that has killed 170 people.

China's National Health Commission said the total number of deaths from the coronavirus in the country climbed to 170 by late Jan. 29, and the number of those infected rose to 7,711.

Almost all the deaths have been in the central province of Hubei, home to about 60 million people and now under virtual lockdown. The virus emerged last month in a live wild animal market in the provincial capital of Wuhan.

The World Health Organization's Emergency Committee is due to reconvene on Jan. 30 to decide whether the virus constitutes a global emergency.

Infections have been reported in at least 16 other countries, with 105 confirmed cases, but no deaths have occurred outside China.

Cases of human-to-human transmission outside China are of particular concern to the WHO, but it is too early to determine how lethal the virus is, as there are likely to be many cases of milder infections going undetected.

The WHO has said it is confident in China's ability to contain the coronavirus.

The virus has an incubation time of between one and 14 days and there are signs it may be able to spread before any symptoms show.

Chinese National Health Commission Minister Ma Xiaowei said this week the virus was infectious during incubation, unlike Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), another coronavirus that emerged from China and killed about 800 people in 2002 and 2003.

Countries getting citizens out of China have to decide what to do with them as fears of infection grow.

Turkish Airlines has suspended flights to Wuhan, which has a population of 11 million.