Employees of the Istanbul Municipality wait to disinfect a bus in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 11, 2020. Local authorities in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul on Wednesday speeded up disinfection efforts against the spread of the novel coronavirus after the report of the first confirmed case in the country on Wednesday. (Photo by Yasin Akgul/Xinhua)

ISTANBUL, March 11  -- Local authorities in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul on Wednesday speeded up disinfection efforts against the spread of the novel coronavirus after the report of the first confirmed case in the country on Wednesday.

"The special hygiene teams of the municipality are hard at work all across Istanbul to disinfect public spaces and transport vehicles against the coronavirus," Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul, tweeted.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Wednesday announced the first case of the novel coronavirus in Turkey. A male citizen was tested positive for the coronavirus.

The patient had returned from Europe, contracted the virus there and suffered high fever and coughing, said the minister, noting that the patient was completely isolated.