COVID-19
Erdogan’s spokesman, interior minister test positive for COVID-19
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman and interior minister both announced Saturday that they had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kolin tweeted that he had reached “the final stage of coronavirus treatment” but did not say how long he had been sick.
Kolin’s announcement came just hours after Erdogan’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said he was hospitalized Friday after testing positive for the virus.
Turkish media reports that both men routinely meet with Erdogan, who was traveling on Saturday to Izmir to inspect the damage from an earthquake that killed more than 30 people in Turkey and Greece.
However, al-Arabiya reports that Erdogan has exhibited no signs of illness and keeps a punishing schedule that often includes several daily televised speeches.
Turkey, which this week surpassed 10,000 coronavirus deaths, has so far refrained from reintroducing the lockdown measures being unveiled by countries such as France and Greece.