Turkey lifts mandatory quarantine for fully vaccinated South African travelers

• South Africans travelling to Turkey do not need to be quarantined if they can prove that they have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
• Those who cannot provide proof will need to be quarantined for at least 10 days.
• All passengers still need to provide negative PCR test results and fill in the passenger location form.
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Turkey is the latest country to remove mandatory quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated South African travelers.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, travelers from South Africa were severely restricted from entering Turkey. Like Brazil, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the ban on direct flights to South Africa makes entry into Turkey almost impossible.

For travelers who have been to South Africa in the past 14 days, the quarantine agreement is enforced. These arriving passengers, even if the PCR test result is negative, are required to spend two weeks at the designated hotel at their own expense.

These restrictive travel requirements changed on Monday. Passengers from South Africa still need to submit a negative PCR test within 72 hours of arriving in Turkey, but if they can provide a vaccination certificate, they will be exempt from any quarantine.

Travelers are considered fully vaccinated 14 days after receiving the last dose of vaccine approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). This applies to the last dose of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine and the single-dose Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine.

Passengers between the ages of 12 and 18 who have not been vaccinated need to be tested for Covid-19. If the test result is negative, they can continue to travel in Turkey. If they test positive, they will be asked to quarantine.

Adult travelers who cannot provide official vaccination documents must be quarantined for 14 days at their place of residence or their declared address in Turkey. If the result is negative, unvaccinated travelers can terminate the isolation period by submitting another PCR test on the 10th day of their stay.

All passengers arriving in Turkey also need to submit Passenger location table, Which requires the passenger’s personal information and passport details.

Turkish Airlines and South African Business Insider confirmed the latest regulations that came into effect on Monday, adding that flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg are currently operating.

A round-trip ticket from Johannesburg to Istanbul starts at approximately US$598 (R9,000), and a round-trip ticket from Cape Town starts at US$481 (R7,300).

(Compiled by Luke Daniel)

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