The Latest: Turkey bringing home over 3,600 of its citizens

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 182,000 people and killed more than 7,100. The COVID-19 illness causes mild or moderate symptoms but most people, but severe symptoms are more likely in the elderly or people with existing health problems. More than 79,000 people have recovered from it so far, mostly in China.

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Turkey is bringing home more than 3,600 of its citizens who have been stranded in nine European countries after Turkey suspended flights to 20 destinations over the coronavirus outbreak.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that the citizens will be returned to Turkey later in the day, on board 34 Turkish Airlines flights.

He said the returnees will be placed in quarantine for 14 days in Istanbul and in the nearby city of Kocaeli.

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Germany has launched a drive to bring home thousands of tourists stranded in popular winter vacation spots across the globe — particularly people on package holidays in Morocco, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, the Maldives and Egypt.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Tuesday that the government is spending up to 50 million euros ($56 million) on the effort to bring Germans home over the coming days in cooperation with airlines including Lufthansa.

Maas didn’t give a precise number of stranded Germans but said there was a particularly large number in Morocco, with around 4,000 or 5,000. He said that “even if we will do everything humanly possible, we cannot in every case provide a solution within 24 hours.”

Maas said his ministry has issued a formal warning against tourist travel to any country.

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Japan’s Defense Ministry says it has indefinitely postponed an international defense conference of Pacific island countries that Japan was to host in April because of...