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Turkish students evacuated from Poland

24.03.2020 09:20
The authorities in Turkey have decided to evacuate 600 Turkish students from Poland amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
A sanitation worker disinfects a square in Istanbul, Turkey, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
A sanitation worker disinfects a square in Istanbul, Turkey, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Photo: EPA/ERDEM SAHIN

A first group of students left Warsaw for Istanbul late on Monday; another flight is scheduled for Tuesday.

According to the Turkish embassy in Warsaw, there were about 3,000 Turkish students in Poland, most of them as part of the European Union’s Erasmus exchange programme.

Some had already returned home, while others have decided to stay.

An embassy official has told Poland’s PAP news agency that Turkish students are “being treated well” in Poland.

He added: “We hope they will be able to return when all this [the pandemic] is over.”

As of Monday, there were 1,529 confirmed coronavirus cases in Turkey, with 37 deaths from the Covid-19 disease reported in that country.

In Poland, a total of 766 people have tested positive for the Covid-19 disease, with eight deaths from the coronavirus so far, health authorities said on Tuesday.

(mk/gs)