Turkey joins European American football nations, halts footall

The Turkish League of American Football has called a halt to the season after one round of play, joining every other nation in Europe already in play or about to start, as the coronavirus strikes in that country.

Like virtually every other country in the world, Turkey is grappling with the spread of COVID-19. The number of coronavirus cases in Turkey has risen to five.

Inbound flights from nine European countries – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden – have been suspended until April 17. Turkish authorities had previously halted flights with China, Iran, Iraq, Italy and South Korea. Turkey will also halt passengers arriving from all those nine countries at all border crossings, from Saturday morning.

After emerging in Wuhan, China, last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to more than 110 countries.

The global death toll is now over 5,000 with nearly 140,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has declared the outbreak a pandemic.