Turkey halts flights from BD, five other countries over Covid concerns

Istanbul : Turkey has halted flights and all direct travel from Bangladesh, Brazil, South Africa, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka due to new variants of the coronavirus, the Interior Ministry said on June 28. 
Those who arrive from other places but have been in the countries listed within the last 14 days will need to show a negative PCR test within a maximum of 72 hours before entry and they will need to quarantine for 14 days, it said. 
Those arriving from Pakistan and Afghanistan or who have been there in the last 14 days will need to quarantine in Turkey for 10 days upon arrival, it added.
Those coming from the United Kingdom, Iran, Egypt and Singapore will need to show a negative PCR test within 72 hours prior to arrival, the ministry mentioned.
Earlier on June 21, Turkish Airlines announced to increase flight frequency on Dhaka-Istanbul route to 10 weekly from July 7.  The move comes as Turkish Airlines celebrates its 10th anniversary of successful operations in Bangladesh. 
This milestone makes Turkish the only airline to operate direct flights between Bangladesh and Europe for the last 10 years. 
Currently, the airline operates seven weekly flights on Dhaka-Istanbul route. But from July 7, the national flag carrier of Turkey will operate 10 weekly flights on the route.
According to the updated flight schedule, the carrier will operate two flights on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday along with one flight in seven days of the week, a press release confirmed.
However, this new flight ban announced on June 28 puts a stop to this development until further notice.