ISTANBUL (AP) – Turkey is taking precautions for international travel, requiring a negative COVID-19 test for passengers entering the country from Monday through March.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted a statement on Friday saying that travelers would need to report a negative PCR test done in a 72-hour window to board international flights en route to Turkey. Previously, tests were not necessary to travel to Turkey.
The rule applies to all land and sea arrivals as of Wednesday. Travelers would be quarantined at their destination if they did not have the test results.
Travelers arriving from the UK, Denmark and South Africa in the last 10 days would have to have a negative test result and be required to quarantine for at least seven days until a second test.
Turkey has one of the worst infection rates in the world, with a weekly average of more than 20,000 confirmed daily infections. The total death toll is 19,371, according to official statistics.