'Turkey must bring back citizens infected in S.Arabia'

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) – A Turkish opposition lawmaker on Tuesday called for the immediate repatriation of Turkish citizens who have contracted COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking to reporters in parliament, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Tulay Hatimogullari said 128 Turkish citizens have tested positive for COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia, but they are not being treated.

“Even those [Turkish patients] who should be in hospitals for treatment have not received any treatment so far. These 128 citizens should be immediately repatriated to Turkey,” Hatimogullari said.

“They should be brought back and their treatment should start immediately.”

Infections have surged in the kingdom over recent weeks and have now crossed 105,000, with almost 750 deaths.

Turkey has brought back over 80,000 citizens from 128 countries since the start of the pandemic, according to the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party spokesman.

As the COVID-19 situation in Turkey has improved in recent weeks, the government has initiated a normalization process.

Recoveries have been on the rise and 3,411 more were confirmed on Monday, raising the total to 141,380.

The figure makes up a majority of the country’s total number of COVID-19 cases, which stands at 171,121, including 4,711 deaths.