Person with coronavirus on THY plane to Singapore foreign passenger in transit

Last night, a piece of news about the corona virus which caused the death of more than 3 thousand people in more than 80 countries and sickened more than 95 thousand people, fell like a bomb on the agenda of the Turkish public.

Singapore’s health ministry declared that the corona virus had been detected in a passenger on Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Singapore. Shortly after this announcement, the 3 pilots and 11 cabin crew on flight TK54 departed with the empty plane sent back to Istanbul. Following the announcement by the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority, local officials told Reuters about the patient, who had been diagnosed with the corona virus.

An aviation official, who did not release his name, said the person carrying the virus was a passenger in transit through Istanbul. The official said the sick passenger was not a Turkish citizen.

On the other hand the Minister of Health made a statement saying “The passenger diagnosed with coronavirus in Singapore is a French citizen. He is a transit passenger from London to Singapore. Our aircraft has returned without a passenger. The crew will be kept under surveillance for 14 days.”