'Coronavirus likely to wane with summer'

A scientific commission tackling the threat of coronavirus in Turkey believes it will wane with warmer weather, said Turkey's health minister of Thursday.

On Twitter, Fahrettin Koca said the novel coronavirus seems to be a winter infection.

"If we can implement all necessary measures to prevent the virus from propagating, daily life will probably return to normal within two months," he said.

Weeks after most countries had dozens or hundreds of cases, and amid stringent measures to prevent its spread, Turkey announced its first case of the novel coronavirus early Wednesday, a man who had recently visited Europe.

Since originating in Wuhan, China last December, coronavirus has spread to more than 100 countries.

The global death toll is now almost 4,600, with more than 124,500 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has declared the outbreak a global pandemic.