Turkey on Sunday reversed a measure allowing people unvaccinated against COVID-19 to board domestic flights without a PCR test, Duvar news site reported, a day after it announced it was lifting the requirement.
The Interior Ministry on Saturday lifted the PCR testing requirement for unvaccinated people on planes, buses, theatres, cinemas and concert venues.
The Turkish government had also lifted the PCR test and isolation requirement for those who come into contact with someone who has COVID-19, with the test given only to those who show symptoms of coronavirus. Saturday’s announcement also removed the PCR test requirement from the country’s unvaccinated workforce, both civil servants and private-sector employees.
According to the latest regulations, the unvaccinated or not fully inoculated and those who have not contracted the virus in the last 180 days will be required to take a PCR test ahead of their flights, Duvar said.
More than 57.23 million people in Turkey, which has a population of 85 million, have received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine, while some 83 percent of the population, over 52.09 million, have had their second doses, according to the Health Ministry.
Sunday’s regulation arrives as the country registered 54,100 new COVID-19 cases, according to official data, down from 77,722 infections on Wednesday, the highest figure on record. The death toll in Turkey due to COVID-19 rose by 136 on Sunday to reach 84,758.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Sunday urged citizens to maintain coronavirus measures, noting that all efforts to this end had brought Turkey “closer to normalisation.’’
Ahval