Turkey brings home over 2,500 citizens for Ramadan

By Erdogan Cagatay Zontur

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Friday brought back 2,588 citizens from several countries as part of its ongoing repatriation drive.

The country is working to bring back nearly 25,000 citizens stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The highest number of citizens – 963 – was brought back from France on special flights that landed in the capital Ankara as well as Istanbul.

A further 326 expats from Switzerland and 286 from Sweden arrived in the northwestern Bursa province and Amasya province along the Black Sea.

A total of 323 citizens returned from Ukraine on a special Turkish Airlines flight that arrived in the eastern Sivas province on Thursday night.

Following mandatory health checks, they were transported to the central Tokat province to be quarantined at a student dormitory.

In the central Nevsehir province, 299 Turkish citizens arrived from Azerbaijan and were placed in quarantine at a student dormitory.

A special flight with 165 Turkish citizens from Germany landed in the Mersin province on Thursday.

Another Turkish Airlines flight with 144 citizens from Algeria landed in the central Konya province, while 82 more from Thailand were brought to the Izmir province on the Aegean coast.

All the returning citizens will be in quarantine for 14 days.

As of Thursday, Turkey has registered 101,790 cases of COVID-19, with the nationwide death toll at 2,491 and 18,491 recoveries.

More than 2.71 million cases have been reported in 185 countries and regions since the virus emerged in China last December, with Europe and the US being the world’s hardest-hit areas.

The global death toll is close to 191,000 deaths, while recoveries are nearing 745,000, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.