The number of confirmed coronavirus cases rises to 18 in Turkey

He said that that 12 more people have been tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 18.

Koca said two of the new cases were related to the first confirmed case in the country, seven had travelled from Europe and three from the United States.

In the early hours of 11 March 2020, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced that a Turkish man who had contracted the virus while travelling in Europe was the country's first coronavirus case.The patient had been placed in isolation at an undisclosed hospital, and family members of the patient were put under observation.

Koca announced that the number of confirmed cases rose to six, with a pilgrim who recently returned from Umrah testing positive on Saturday.

Turkey government has taken precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the outbreak.

National Education Minister Ziya Selçuk organized a press conference on 12 March and announced that disinfection would be carried out in all schools after the closure. He said that the weekly curriculum would be structured and the necessary training and education support would be provided by EBA on the Internet and TRT on television, and they had taken whatever measures that were necessary to prevent interruptions and delays in educational programs

After a meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the rest of the Turkish government, Press Secretary İbrahim Kalın announced that primary schools, middle schools, and high schools in Turkey will be closed starting from 16 March 2020 for a week. Universities will also be closed for three weeks. Sports matches will be played behind closed doors in the stadiums until the end of April. The president also postponed all his overseas visits.

On 13 March, Turkey announced its decision to stop all flights to and from Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands starting from Saturday at 08.00 am until 17 April. On the same day, Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül announced that meetings in all open and closed prisons, the use of family meeting rooms and transfers between prisons were delayed for two weeks.

The Ministry of the Interior announced that pavilions, discotheques, bars and night clubs will be closed temporarily starting from 10:00 on Monday. (ILKHA)