Turkey urged the EU to correct the “mistake” of excluding it from the bloc's list of safe coronavirus travel partners, saying it was disappointed by the move, AFP reported.

“The lack of Turkey's presence on the list is disappointing,” Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a statement.

“We expect this mistake to be corrected as soon as possible,” the spokesman said, adding the decision should have been made on the basis of “objective criteria”.