Turkey remains off EU’s safe travel list amid COVID-19 outbreak
The European Union has again excluded Turkey from its safe country travel list due to the current coronavirus trend. The EU updates its safe travel list every 15 days and the new list takes effect on Sept. 1.
Duvar English
Turkish citizens are set to be banned from Europe –again– as the EU has reviewed its list of countries from which the bloc will allow non-essential travel.
In their evaluations, EU officials said that Turkey will remain in the orange category (essential travel only, no holidays) as the country has more than 16 coronavirus cases per 100,000 population, which makes it “a risky country,” BBC Turkish service said in a report on Aug. 31.
The EU updates its safe travel list every 15 days and the new list takes effect on Sept. 1.
Apart from Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, the EU will also include Hungary and Slovia in its “orange category” travel list. Also, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina are included in the “orange category” list.
The listing is only a recommendation; not all of the 27 EU member countries are applying its provisions.
Turkey on Aug. 31 registered new 1,587 cases of the COVID-19, taking the overall tally to 270,133. The country also registered 44 new fatalities from the virus.
"Today we reached the highest number of daily tests. More than 110,000 tests were carried out and 1,587 new patients were identified. Our sorrow over the loss of lives is beyond words," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.