Fahrettin Koca

With tests showing no sign of disease, the medical staff and flight crew who airlifted Turkish citizens from China last week will finish out their two-week quarantine with home monitoring, Turkey's health minister said on Feb. 11.

Turkey will suspend imports from China of all kinds of animal products as new measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Feb. 7.

Koca said all imports of living and non-living animals, animal and waste products would be halted temporarily.

Three people have died and 179 were injured when a plane skidded off the runway at an Istanbul airport, caught fire and split into three after landing in rough weather, with both the state and the airline company launching probes into the incident.

Turkey has decided to stop all flights from China until the end of February, the health minister has said, as part of measures taken against the coronavirus threat.

Turkey's health minister on Feb. 2 announced that sample tests on 42 evacuees airlifted from Wuhan, China -- the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak -- would be released on Feb. 3.

A cargo plane with 42 passengers departed from China's Wuhan city for Turkey after evacuating Turkish citizens from the heart of a deadly coronavirus outbreak, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Feb. 1.

Eleven military personnel, six health employees, two journalists, and a Foreign Ministry representative are on board the plane that arrived at 6 a.m. local time (2200GMT) in Wuhan.

Turkish citizens returning from the coronavirus-hit Wuhan city of China will be placed in quarantine for a total of 14 days, according to the country's health minister.

U.S. President Donald Trump has offered condolences to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on a phone call over Jan.24's deadly earthquake in eastern Turkey, the communications directorate said on Jan. 28. 

The Chief Prosecutor's Office in Ankara is investigating dozens of people for what the government calls "provocative" social media posts about the deadly earthquake that jolted Turkey's eastern province of Elazığ on Jan. 24.

Turkey has completed its precautions against the new flu-like coronavirus even though the country does not carry the risk of a possible outbreak, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said.

Speaking in an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency, the minister said that no patients carrying the coronavirus have been detected and the country does not carry the risk.