London, August 23 (HNA) – Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) called British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to remove Turkey from the ‘red travel list’ this week, allowing double-jabbed Britons and all under 18s to enjoy quarantine-free travel to the country, CEFTUS said in a statement released on Monday.
“We, the undersigned, call on the Government to remove Turkey from the ‘red travel list’ this week, allowing double-jabbed Britons and all under 18s to enjoy quarantine-free travel to the country. It is clear that diminished case numbers, as well as the enhanced safety protocols now in place within Turkey, meaning that it is a clear candidate for reassessment and should be moved to the ‘amber travel list’ immediately” read the statement.
Over the past year, Turkey had made significant efforts to tackle the pandemic, rolling out over 51m jabs, vaccinating an estimated 80-90 percent of its tourism sector employees and enforcing strict travel and quarantine policies with nations of concern, CEFTUS said in the statement and added:
“As a result, Turkey has seen greatly diminished Covid cases, reducing daily case numbers from around 60000 per day in April to around 5000 per day over the past week. The figure of 5000 cases per day is roughly 5 times fewer than the UK’s daily case rate and comparable to Italy who saw around 7000 cases per day over the past week – and remains on the UK’s ‘amber travel list.’”
Over the last 30 days, Turkey has published more genomic data than Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Canada, Singapore, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, and South Korea. In August travellers returning from Turkey recorded on average 1.7 percent positive Covid results following track and trace protocols, compared to around 2.5 percent returning from Russia and 4.6 percent returning from Kazakhstan – who both remain on the amber list, said CEFTUS in the statement and added:
“In addition, Turkey’s data sharing with GISAID was significantly greater than a number of nations who remain on the amber list including other popular tourist destinations such as Cyprus and Greece.
“Tourism between the UK and Turkey is of great importance to both nations, 2.3million Brits visited Turkey in 2019, sustaining the tourism sectors of both nations as well as creating thousands of jobs.”
“We look forward to hearing from you and await eagerly your decision” CEFTUS called on Prime Minister Johnson.