Turkey quarantines 167 expats evacuated from S. Arabia

BALIKESIR, Turkey A total of 167 Turkish nationals who were evacuated from Saudi Arabia were placed under a 14-day quarantine on Saturday to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. The flight landed at Balikesir Koca Seyit Airport in western Turkey and the group were placed in the dormitories after health checks. As of Friday, Turkey registered a total of 3,258 deaths due to coronavirus whereas nearly 54,000 people have recovered from the disease. Currently, there are 122,392 confirmed cases in the country. More than 3.36 million cases have been reported in 187 countries and regions since the virus emerged in China last December, with the US and Europe the world’s hardest-hit areas. A significant number of COVID-19 patients – over 1.06 million – have recovered, but the disease has also claimed close to 240,000 lives so far, according to data compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University. *Writing by Handan Kazanci