Turkey removed from UK’s safe travel list

* Photo: AA - Archive

Click to read the article in Turkish

Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport of the United Kingdom (UK), has announced that the country has removed Turkey from the "Travel Corridor" list amid novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

As the reason for this decision, Schapps has noted that Turkey's Health Ministry has been defining "the number of new COVID-19 cases in a different way to the definition used by international organizations."

With this decision, the passengers who arrive in the UK from Turkey will need to self-isolate for 14 days. It will also apply to transit passengers.

The Secretary of State has announced the decision on his Twitter account. Shapps has shared the following messages about the issue:

'It will enter into force on October 3'

"Travel Corridor Update: The latest data indicates we need to remove Turkey, Poland, and Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba from the TravelCorridor list this week. This means if you arrive from these destinations from 4am Saturday 3 October, you will need to self-isolate.

"You must self-isolate if you enter the UK from a non-exempt country - from tomorrow, we're increasing the penalties for people who refuse to do so to a maximum of £10,000 for repeat offenders.

"Reminder: If you do travel, you must complete a Passenger Locator Form before returning to the UK. Do your bit to help keep everyone safe.

'Turkey's risk assessment updated'

"Data from Poland shows that test positivity has nearly doubled, increasing from 3.9 percent to 5.8 percent alongside a rapid increase in weekly cases, causing the Joint Biosecurity Centre to update their recommendation.

"We're also removing TURKEY from the list - the Turkish Health Ministry has been defining the number of new COVID-19 cases in a different way to the definition used by international organisations such as WHO and ECDC, so we have updated our risk assessment for the country."

We're also removing TURKEY from the list - the Turkish Health Ministry has been defining the number of new COVID-19 cases in a different way to the definition used by international organisations such as WHO and ECDC, so we have updated our risk assessment for the country.

— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) October 1, 2020

Only the ones with symptoms are counted

In his press conference on September 30, 2020, Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca indicated that they did not add everyone who tested positive for COVID-19 to the number of daily patients and they considered only the ones who showed the symptoms as "patients."

CLICK - Turkey admits not disclosing number of all Covid-19 cases

(EKN/SD)