Village in southeast Turkey on lockdown over outbreak of mutated coronavirus

A village in southeast Turkey's Muş province was placed under lockdown on Jan. 12 after an outbreak of the novel coronavirus mutation was reported. The report came soon after a Health Ministry official said there was "no need to panic" about the mutation.

Wednesday January 13 2021 10:59 am

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A village in Turkey's southeastern province of Muş was placed under quarantine on Jan. 12 after a novel mutation of the coronavirus was detected, despite recent statements from the Health Ministry that Turkey didn't need to worry about the mutation.

The Yukarıüçdam Village was placed under a 14-day lockdown, the Hasköy District Governor's Office reported on Jan. 12.

Although no details were given about the type of new virus, the report came soon after a member of the Health Ministry's COVID-19 committee, Dr. Afşin Emre Kayıpmaz said that there was no need to panic about the mutation.

Some 15 passengers traveling to Turkey tested positive for the mutation on Jan. 2, Kayıpmaz told the daily Sözcü, although evacuation flights from European countries had landed in Ankara and Istanbul, far from the southeastern village that was placed under lockdown.

Ankara halted travel between Turkey and the Netherlands, Denmark, and the United Kingdom in late December of 2020 as part of precautions against the reportedly 70-percent more infectious new mutation of the coronavirus.