Turkey evacuates citizens amid coronavirus fears

Turkey evacuates citizens amid coronavirus fears

Some 401 students arriving from Italy, 142 citizens from UK to be placed in quarantine for 14 days

By Omer Faruk Cebeci and Ilyas Gun

SAMSUN/SAKARYA, Turkey (AA) – Turkey evacuated hundreds of its citizens early Wednesday from the U.K. and Italy, where it has suspended international flights due to the novel coronavirus.

Some 188 students from Italy’s Milan Malpensa Airport landed at Samsun Carsamba Airport in Samsun province on a Turkish Airlines flight. Another 213 students coming from Rome Fiumicino Airport also arrived in the province.

Separately, 142 Turkish citizens evacuated from London landed at Istanbul Airport.

All evacuees were referred to dormitories in Samsun and Sakarya provinces. They will be placed in quarantine for 14 days as part of Turkey’s coronavirus quarantine measures.

At the direction of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, flights were arranged for students in the U.K., Ireland, Poland, Italy, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates who wanted to come back to Turkey.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said 3,358 students would be brought back from seven countries with flight bans and will be quarantined at dormitories in various Turkish cities.

Turkey has 1,872 confirmed cases, with the death toll at 44, according to the Health Ministry.

After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 169 countries and regions. The World Health Organization has declared it a pandemic.

Out of more than 417,000 confirmed cases worldwide, the death toll now exceeds 18,600, while nearly 108,000 have recovered.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar

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