COVID-19 variant: Turkey suspends flights from Brazil

ANKARA

Turkey on Friday suspended flights from Brazil amid rising case numbers of a mutated variant of the novel coronavirus.

On Twitter, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca noted that flights from the UK, Denmark, and South Africa had previously been suspended due to the new strain of coronavirus.

The pandemic has claimed more than 2 million lives in 192 countries and regions since it originated in China in December 2019.

Over 97.7 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries nearing 54 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

The US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of cases.