Turkey Requires Negative PCR Tests for All Incoming Passengers

People wearing masks take photos in the historic Sultanahmet Square with Hagia Sophia in the background, Istanbul, Turkey, Dec. 21, 2020. (AP)
People wearing masks take photos in the historic Sultanahmet Square with Hagia Sophia in the background, Istanbul, Turkey, Dec. 21, 2020. (AP)
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Turkey Requires Negative PCR Tests for All Incoming Passengers

People wearing masks take photos in the historic Sultanahmet Square with Hagia Sophia in the background, Istanbul, Turkey, Dec. 21, 2020. (AP)
People wearing masks take photos in the historic Sultanahmet Square with Hagia Sophia in the background, Istanbul, Turkey, Dec. 21, 2020. (AP)

Turkey is enacting precautions for international travel, requiring a negative COVID-19 test for passengers to enter the country starting Monday until March.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted a statement Friday saying travelers would need to present a negative result from a PCR test taken in a 72-hour window to board international flights en route to Turkey. Previously, tests weren't required for travel to Turkey.

The rule would apply to all land and sea arrivals starting Wednesday. Travelers would be quarantined at their destination if they don’t have test results.

Travelers arriving from the United Kingdom, Denmark and South Africa in the past 10 days would have to show a negative test result and go into mandatory quarantine for at least seven days until a second test.

Turkey has among 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.



Rescuers Search for 19 Missing, Recover 9 Bodies after Nepal Flooding

Rescuers evacuate stranded people from the site of a mudslide at the Gyirong Port area in Gyirong Township of Xigaze, Xizang Autonomous Region, China, 08 July 2025. EPA/XINHUA / Xu Dafu
Rescuers evacuate stranded people from the site of a mudslide at the Gyirong Port area in Gyirong Township of Xigaze, Xizang Autonomous Region, China, 08 July 2025. EPA/XINHUA / Xu Dafu
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Rescuers Search for 19 Missing, Recover 9 Bodies after Nepal Flooding

Rescuers evacuate stranded people from the site of a mudslide at the Gyirong Port area in Gyirong Township of Xigaze, Xizang Autonomous Region, China, 08 July 2025. EPA/XINHUA / Xu Dafu
Rescuers evacuate stranded people from the site of a mudslide at the Gyirong Port area in Gyirong Township of Xigaze, Xizang Autonomous Region, China, 08 July 2025. EPA/XINHUA / Xu Dafu

Dozens of rescuers searched the banks of a mountain river Wednesday looking for people missing after monsoon floods swept away Nepal's main bridge connecting to the country to China and caused at least nine deaths.

Police said dozens of rescuers were already at the area and more are expected to join the rescue efforts. Nine dead bodies have been recovered from the river. Security forces have rescued 55 people, including four Indians and a Chinese person so far, according to the Rasuwa District Administration Office.

Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, along with top ministers and officials, flew to the area, The Associated Press reported. Oli called an emergency meeting Tuesday night and instructed all security forces and government offices to assist the rescue and recovery efforts.

The flooding on the Bhotekoshi River early Tuesday destroyed the Friendship Bridge at Rasuwagadi, which is 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Kathmandu. Several houses and trucks that were parked at the border for customs inspections also were swept away. Hundreds of electric vehicles imported from China had been parked at the border point.

The 19 missing are 13 Nepali citizens and six Chinese nationals, said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

The Chinese and eight of the Nepalis were workers at a Chinese-assisted construction project on the Nepali side of the border, according to the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, quoted by state media.

The destruction of the bridge has halted all trade from China to Nepal through this route. The longer alternative is for goods to be shipped from China to India and then brought overland to Nepal.