Turkey drops mask rules as it heads for normality ahead of tourist season
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announces a return to normal life after two years of COVID-19 measures, but medical association warns it may be too early.
Turkey, which has suffered roughly 95,000 deaths due to COVID-19 since March 2019, announced Wednesday it was dropping mask requirements outdoors and in “well-ventilated” indoor areas.
The move indicates that Turkey is moving toward normalization before the critical spring-summer tourism season, though tourism managers worry that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will deliver a new blow, as both countries are on Turkey’s top-ten tourists list.
“I, who have always urged caution and strict adherence to anti-pandemic measures throughout two years, appear before you today to signal normalization,” Fahrettin Koca, Turkey’s health minister, said at a press conference late Wednesday.
Turkey’s announcement comes a day after American President Joe Biden announced his State of the Union speech Tuesday night that the world had “reached a new moment” in the coronavirus pandemic and called on Americans to begin resuming their pre-COVID-19 routines.
