Turkey quarantines expats from Hungary, TRNC

By Burcu Kaya, Kenan Irtak and Izzet Taskiran

MERSIN/ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey evacuated its nationals from Hungary and Northern Cyprus early Friday and placed them under a 14-day quarantine to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

All 300 Turkish citizens from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) were brought to Mersin province and later sent to Karaman province for quarantine at dormitories after health checks.

In a separate operation, Turkey brought back its citizens from Hungary.

The expats arrived in Istanbul on a chartered flight and were sent to Duzce province for quarantine at dormitories following routine health examinations.

The Turkish government has repatriated nearly 70,000 of its nationals from various countries since the start of the outbreak.

As of Thursday, the country reported a total of 144,749 coronavirus cases, 104,030 of which have fully recovered. The death toll stands at 4,007.

After originating in Wuhan, China last December, COVID-19 has spread to at least 188 countries and regions, with Europe and the US currently the worst hit.

The pandemic has killed more than 302,000 people worldwide, with more than 4.44 million confirmed cases, while recoveries have surpassed 1.58 million, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University of the US.