Northern Cyprus confirms 6th coronavirus case

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) announced on Sunday that one more person tested positive for the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, raising the tally to six in the country.

A Turkish Cypriot citizen who returned to the country from Britain was diagnosed with COVID-19.

The country’s Health Minister Ali Pilli told Turkish News Agency-Cyprus that three people from a group of German tourists who were already under observation have tested negative for the virus.

In the TRNC, four tourists and one citizen had earlier been diagnosed with the virus.

On Tuesday, Health Minister Ali Pilli had announced the country's first case was a 65-year-old tourist from Germany.

The TRNC had already announced schools would be closed until March 15 as a measure to stem the spread of the disease.

The news followed Monday's announcement that two cases of the virus were detected in the Greek Cyprus, the first to be confirmed on the divided island.

After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the virus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 141 countries and territories.

The global death toll is now nearly 5,700, with more than 152,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has declared the outbreak a global pandemic.

* Writing by Burak Dag in Ankara