All border gates are closed to passengers coming from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden starting at 8 am (0500 GMT) on Saturday, the ministry added.

Citizens of these nine countries are allowed to leave Turkey, it said further.

Other third-country citizens, who have been in these nine countries over the past 14 days, are also not allowed to enter Turkey, the statement said.

Turkish citizens are “temporarily” suspended from travelling to these nine countries, the ministry added.

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Turkey on Friday said it was suspending flights to those nine countries until April 17, starting at the same time of border closure.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Turkey increased to five on Friday.