Deadline soon for Turkish citizens in Europe to return

Turkish citizens who are in the nine European countries Ankara recently suspended air travel with have until 5 p.m. local time on Monday to apply to come home, according to Turkey's Foreign Ministry.

In a tweet, Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kıran said citizens who went to the nine European countries on tourist or student visas are eligible to return to Turkey.

He said the citizens will be quarantined for 14 days after their return.

Suspension of air travel from nine European countries-Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, and the Netherlands-was among a host of measures implemented by Ankara to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Flights from these countries were suspended on March 14 till at least until April 17.

On March 13, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Europe the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, as transmission rates on the continent soared higher than China, where the virus first emerged.

Turkey, which had 18 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Monday, earlier stopped flights from China, Iran, Iraq, Italy, and South Korea.

Other measures include temporarily closing schools and universities, halting public events and activities, postponing foreign visits, and barring spectators at sports events.

Since the first cases were reported in China last December, the virus has now spread to 146 countries and territories, according to the WHO.

WHO data shows the global death toll from COVID-19 was nearly 6,500 by Monday evening, with more than 164,000 cases confirmed worldwide.

However, a vast majority of infected people have recovered. At a briefing on March 3, WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also pointed out that the mortality rate from the virus was around 3.4%.