Turkey halts flights to 46 more countries over COVID-19

ANKARA

Turkey expanded the flight suspensions to another 46 countries in fight against coronavirus pandemic, the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry announced on Saturday.

In a statement, the ministry said Turkey will halt its flights to 46 more countries as of 5 p.m. (1400GMT) on Saturday as part of measures to combat the virus outbreak.

The latest decision brought the total number to 68 countries with which Turkey halted its flights.

The flight ban will include: Angola, Austria, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Czechia, China, Colombia, Djibouti, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Georgia, Hungary, India, Italy, Iraq, Iran, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Montenegro, Mongolia, Morocco, Moldova, Mauritania, Nepal, Niger, Norway, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Oman, the Philippines, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Taiwan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, the U.K, Ukraine.

The virus, which causes the disease known as COVID-19, emerged in Wuhan, China last December, and has spread to at least 166 countries and territories, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Out of almost 278,000 confirmed cases, the death toll now exceeds 11,500, and more than 89,000 have recovered.

Despite the rising number of cases, most of the people who contract the virus suffer only mild symptoms and recover.

* Writing by Fahri Aksut