ANKARA

Turkey announced its first cases of the UK coronavirus variant on Friday while stressing that all precautionary measures were being taken.

“In the investigations made due to the mutation originating from the UK, mutated viruses were detected in 15 people who entered the country from the UK and the required measures have been adopted,” said Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Twitter.

Entries from the UK to Turkey have been temporarily suspended, he added.

He said the people who came in contact with the infected persons have also been quarantined.

The UK has reported a new variant of coronavirus that officials say is highly infectious, but there has been no evidence so far it is more likely to cause severe disease or mortality, the World Health Organization said.

Turkey on Friday reported 12,203 more infections and 212 new fatalities from the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours. The tally of infections exceeded 2.22 million, while the death toll climbed to 21,093 in the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 1.82 million lives in 191 countries and regions since it originated in China last December.

Over 83.68 million cases have been reported worldwide, with more than 47.19 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

The US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of cases, as doctors call for rapid rollout of vaccines.