Turkish authorities have removed the requirement for negative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for entry of citizens from 16 countries and territories, including Vietnam.

Conducting Covid-19 tests for locals. Photo: Pham Hung

In addition to Vietnam, those from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, Latvia, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Thailand, South Korea, Israel, Japan, Estonia, China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), also made the list, set to take effect from May 15.

Turkey yesterday [May 2] recorded nearly 26,000 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of Covid-19 infections in the country to around 4.9 million cases. The number of the pandemic-related death in the past 24 hours expanded by 340 to a total of 40,844.

The country has started its vaccination program since January 14 after approving emergency use for Chinese CoronaVac vaccine. So far, over 13.8 million Turkish has been administered with the vaccine.

As of May 3, Vietnam has confirmed 2,962 infections, including 2,549 convalescents. Half of the total cases are locally-transmitted.