Istanbul’s coronavirus outbreak is ‘under control,’ claims health minister
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca compared Turkey's largest city to Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in China.
As Turkey’s number of coronavirus cases creeped past 100,000, Turkey’s health minister said Friday the capital of Istanbul was “under control.”
“Turkey’s Wuhan was Istanbul,” Fahrettin Koca said in an interview with the pro-government Sabah newspaper, referencing the Chinese city where the virus first emerged in December.
On April 8, Wuhan lifted travel restrictions for residents and reopened its borders after 11 weeks in lockdown.
The Turkish health minister, who said last week the country’s coronavirus infection rate was stabilizing, credited the reportedly slowed rate of infections in Istanbul to contact tracing and early treatment.
