Germany on Friday removed Turkey from its list of high-risk COVID-19 countries with a new decision by the country’s top disease control agency as new virus cases in Turkey have been significantly dropping recently.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Turkey is now merely a normal risk country and as a result, there is no longer a need for a five to 10-day quarantine obligation.
Turkey was placed on the RKI's high-risk list in April but has so far administered over 29.78 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it kicked off a mass vaccination campaign in mid-January, according to official Turkish figures released on Thursday.
Turkey has conducted 224,681 COVID-19 tests in the last 24 hours, according to the latest data on Friday, with 6,169 people testing positive, the lowest figure in recent weeks.
The country has also reported 94 deaths for the past day.
Top Turkish and German tourism and economic officials met in Berlin last month to discuss ways to promote safe travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Turkey has long been a top destination for German holidaymakers, but the number of German tourists visiting the country fell sharply last year due to virus-related travel restrictions and quarantine measures. As Turkey hosts a significant number of German expats, Germany is home to some five million people with Turkish roots.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said last month they were discussing various steps with Ankara to facilitate travel in a responsible manner.
