Coronavirus kills 50 Turkish expats in 8 countries as Turkey 'monitors situation closely'

Coronavirus kills 50 Turkish expats in 8 countries as Turkey 'monitors situation closely'
Turkey has been keeping track of its expat community as coronavirus sweeps across the world.
2 min read
27 March, 2020
Recip Tayyip Erdogan [Getty]
Dozens of Turkish expats across the world have died due to the novel coronavirus, Turkey's deputy foreign minister announced on Friday.

At least 50 Turkish expats across eight countries have died due to Covid-19.

Yavuz Selim Kiran revealed the news during the opening ceremony of Foreign Ministry's Coordination and Support Centre, where he added that at least 151 Turkish citizens abroad have tested positive for the virus.

"We are closely monitoring the situation," he said.

The centre was established by the government as part of measures to fight the virus, and provides key services to citizens 24 hours a day, Anadolu Agency reports.

This comes as Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Turkish consulates are on standby 24/7 to advice Turkish expats.

So far 75 people have died due to complications resulting from the virus, and there are 3,629 confirmed cases of coronavirus according to the Turkish health minister.

Travel disruptions

Some 1,500 passengers from Algeria, Tunisia and Jordan stranded at Istanbul airport over the coronavirus pandemic have been taken to a dormitory in northern Turkey, local media reported on Thursday.

The passengers - the majority Algerian - were trapped with flights to their home countries were cancelled.

They were bussed to a students' dormitory in the northern city of Karabuk, the private DHA news agency reported.

Istanbul Airport operator IGA said on Tuesday that more than 1,000 Algerians were at the airport for several days as Ankara tried to "persuade the Algerian government to grant landing rights for the affected flights".

The North African country has suspended since March 19 all scheduled travel links with Europe in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

In Istanbul, a British couple travelling across the world have been stuck in the country for over 11 days, and have been staying in a car park self-isolating in their camper van.

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