Turkey quarantines 209 expats evacuated from Maldives

By Abdullah Yasin Guler

ANKARA (AA) - A total of 209 Turkish nationals who were evacuated from the Republic of Maldives were placed under a 14-day quarantine Wednesday to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Their flight landed at Esenboga Airport in the capital Ankara and the group was housed in a dormitory in Kirsehir province after health checks.

Upon the instruction of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and in coordination with the Foreign Ministry, Turkey repatriated nearly 25,000 citizens from 59 countries ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

As of Tuesday, Turkey registered a total of 3,520 deaths from the coronavirus while more than 73,200 people have recovered from the disease. There are currently 129,491 confirmed cases in the country.

Since first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 187 countries and regions, with the US and Europe the hardest-hit areas.

More than 3.6 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the death toll surpassing 257,000 and over 1.1 million recoveries, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US.