Turkey Temporarily Closes Bars as 6th Coronavirus Case Confirmed

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey will temporarily shut down bars and clubs as a citizen who recently visited Saudi Arabia tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the country to six.

The closure, which also includes all pavilions and discotheques, will begin Monday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

After a patient who recently visited Saudi Arabia tested positive for the virus, around 10.000 Turkish citizens who have returned from the Umrah pilgrimage were quarantined in dorms in two cities in central Turkey, Sports Minister Mehmet Kasapoglu said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will hold a meeting to discuss the situation in Syria via a teleconference on March 17 because of the coronavirus, according to Turkey’s state run Anadolu Agency.

The initial plan was for Merkel and Macron to visit Turkey to discuss Syria and the refugee crisis. The country also announced it was suspending flights to several European countries in an attempt to curb the outbreak. Turkish flights to Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands have been halted until April 17.

To contact the reporters on this story: Firat Kozok in Ankara at fkozok@bloomberg.net;Inci Ozbek in Istanbul at iozbek2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, Andrew Davis, James Amott

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