COVID-19: Turkey closes borders to 6 countries

* Photo: Pixabay; News: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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It has been announced that flights from six countries to Turkey have been suspended as part of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) measures.

According to a circular issued by the Interior Ministry yesterday (June 28) and sent to the Governor's Offices of all 81 provinces across the country, Turkey has suspended flights from Bangladesh, Brazil, South Africa, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka as of July 1 and until further notice.

The Ministry has noted that the course of the pandemic in some countries has recently shown an escalation due to the new variants.

In accordance with the Health Ministry's recommendations in this context, Turkey has decided to shut down its borders for any direct entries including through land, air, sea or railway from these countries.

The people arriving in Turkey from another country after having been in one of these countries in the last 14 days will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test result conducted in the last 72 hours.

The circular has also stipulated that the related passengers will be quarantined at places set by governor's offices for a period of 14 days, at the end of which a negative test will be required one more time.

In case of a positive COVID-19 test result, the patient will be kept under isolation, which will end with a negative result in the following 14 days.

The Ministry's circular has added that passengers arriving in Turkey from the United Kingdom (UK), Iran, Egypt, and Singapore will be required to have a negative test result obtained in the last three days.

According to the circular, of the passengers coming to Turkey from countries other than Bangladesh, Brazil, South Africa, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the UK, Iran, Egypt and Singapore, the ones who can provide a document showing the administering of a COVID-19 vaccine in the last 14 days or their recovery from COVID-19 infection in the last six months will not be required a test result or quarantined.

A negative COVID-19 test result conducted in the last 72 hours before arriving in Turkey or a negative rapid antigen test conducted within maximum 48 hours after their arrival will suffice for those failing to provide the documents. It will be reportedly possible to have a sampling-based COVID-19 test for passengers incoming from all border gates. (TP/SD)