Some 50 people were placed in quarantine in Alaplı, a town in northern Turkey, over their possible contact with four people diagnosed with the delta variant of coronavirus, Ihlas News Agency (IHA) reported.

Delta cases reportedly spread from a family who arrived in Zonguldak's Alaplı from another province to attend a wedding. Health care crews tested all guests who attended the wedding before authorities ordered 50 to self-isolate at home.

Zonguldak was in sixth place among 81 provinces on a list prepared by the Health Ministry that ranked areas based on the drops in coronavirus cases for a period spanning from June 26 to July 2.

On Monday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca confirmed the country's first cases of the coronavirus delta plus variant, a mutation of the delta variant first discovered in India. Three delta plus variants were reported in three provinces while 284 delta variant cases were reported in 30 provinces. Koca has said patients suffering from delta plus variant were in good health.

The global COVID-19 death toll has reached almost 4 million with the more infectious delta variant accelerating outbreaks according to experts. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Wednesday that the world was at "a perilous point in the pandemic."

The variant has already spread to dozens of countries. In Brazil, which has the second-highest death toll in the world from coronavirus, authorities reported an increase in delta cases while the variant also increased coronavirus cases in the United States, which struggles to boost its vaccination campaign.