Turkey: Medical, flight crews to end quarantine at home

ANKARA

With tests showing no sign of disease, the medical staff and flight crew who airlifted Turkish citizens from China last week will finish out their two-week quarantine with home monitoring, Turkey’s health minister said on Tuesday.

On Feb. 1 Turkey sent a cargo plane to evacuate 42 people, including 32 Turkish nationals, six Azerbaijanis, three Georgians, and one Albanian, as the deadly coronavirus spread both inside China and abroad.

“The evacuees will have finished their 14th day on Friday. In line with the recommendation of our Scientific Committee … it was decided to discharge our medical staff and flight crew from hospital after completing their 10th day, with home monitoring,” Fahrettin Koca told reporters after a meeting in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, of a committee dealing with the virus.

Koca said the medical staff and flight crew were discharged from hospital early in the morning to complete their 14 days at home.

About the evacuees who had lived in China, Koca said they would also be discharged from the hospital at the end of their 14th day in quarantine.

*Writing by Sibel Morrow