No mutated COVID-19 found in Turkey: Health minister

No specimens of the mutated novel coronavirus strain were found in Turkey in samples collected across the country, the nation's health minister announced Saturday.

Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter that the strain was absent both in samples from PCR-positive cases who recently entered Turkey from affected countries, nor in other samples collected in different parts of the country.

"Our public health laboratories regularly examine samples from various regions of our country to monitor mutated and variational changes in the virus," he added.

The variations and mutations determined as part of these examinations are shared with the World Health Organization, he noted.