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Two officials close to Turkish President Erdogan test positive for Covid-19

Two top Turkish officials who work closely with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have tweeted that they tested positive for coronavirus

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during his meeting with mukhtars at the Presidential Palace in Ankara (Photo: Reuters)

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan

AP Istanbul

Two top Turkish officials who work closely with Turkey's president have tweeted that they tested positive for the coronavirus.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said Saturday that he had light COVID-19 symptoms and was nearing the end of treatment.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said he, his wife and daughter all tested positive after feeling unwell on Monday. They are being treated in a hospital, and Thankfully we are a bit better, he said.

Soylu was criticized in April for announcing Turkey's first weekend-long coronavirus lockdown just two hours before it went into effect, leading to scenes of chaos at markets. The president did not accept his resignation.

 

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Saturday reported 75 new deaths from COVID-19 and 2,213 new confirmed cases. The country's death toll in the pandemic now stands at 10,252.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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First Published: Nov 01 2020 | 10:50 AM IST

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