Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the government was concerned about the new cases and urged citizens to administer self-quarantine for 14 days after returning from abroad.
“Having passed health screening tests does not mean you don’t carry any risks,” Koca said.
The new case is the first diagnosis that is not related to the five cases previously confirmed. Those were all family members of the Turkish man who contracted the virus during his travel to Europe.
Koca said the government is working on launching a special coronavirus hotline, which will help citizens determine if they are infected with the virus known as COVID-19.
Turkey announced that inbound flights from nine European countries – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden – have been suspended until April 17. Turkish authorities previously halted flights to and from China, Iran, Iraq, Italy and South Korea. Turkey will also halt passengers arriving from these nine countries at all border crossings, from Saturday morning, Interior Ministry said in a notice shared late on Friday.
On Saturday, the number of coronavirus cases worldwide crossed 150,000 driven largely by a spike in infections in Italy, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources. Italy announced 3,497 new cases, bringing the global total to 151,797, with 5,764 deaths across 137 countries and territories.