Greek Doctors Consider Turkey High Risk Country for Coronavirus

The Panhellenic Medical Association on Wednesday expressed concerns over Turkey’s failure to report coronavirus incidents.

“As Turkey’s eastern border, especially with Iran, has been raging for weeks with a Covid-19 outbreak with hundreds of dead, we consider it unlikely for the neighboring country to not have cases,” the association said.

For that reason the association is urging medical authorities to consider Turkey as a “high risk country” and to monitor incoming passengers traveling from or through the neighboring country.

Earlier on Tuesday, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca confirmed the first reported Covid-19 case in Turkey. A man tested positive, making it the first official case in Turkey since the global outbreak began.

Students should ‘stay put’

In the same announcement, the association warned all university students studying in cities or countries with confirmed Covid-19 cases to avoid travel or returning to their family homes particularly if there are high-risk members living there as part of measures to restrict the spread of the virus.

The announcement comes one day after the Greek education ministry announced the two-week closure of all schools and educational facilities due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Lastly, the Greek medical association insists that all parents keep their children at home for a period of two weeks limiting at the same time all extra-curricular activities.

Ten new confirmed cases were announced earlier on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infected individuals in Greece to 99.