The guidelines are not permanent and subject to change, authorities say.
Young passengers travelling to Turkey from Qatar have been exempt from quarantining, the Gulf state’s embassy in Ankara confirmed on Tuesday.
“All Qatari citizens under the age of six travelling from Doha to Ankara do not have to provide PCR test results,” the statement said, noting these guidelines are subject to change according to developments.
Doha News reached out to the Turkish embassy in Doha which confirmed the guidelines include both Qatari and non-Qatari citizens, despite the statement highlighting “citizens”.
إعلان سفارة دولة قطر لدى الجمهورية التركية بشأن إعفاء بعض فئات المواطنين القادمين إلى تركيا من فحص ال PCR ابتداء من تاريخ 162021 بحسب التوضيح التالي : pic.twitter.com/ydydTHbku2
— Qatar Embassy-Turkey (@QatarEmb_Ankara) June 1, 2021
Earlier this month, the embassy announced certain groups of Qatari citizens travelling to the Republic of Turkey are exempted from PCR testing starting from June 1.
These include vaccinated travellers who can provide a vaccination certificate as well as those that can show they have recovered from Covid-19 within the past 6 months
Children below 18 are still required to present a negative PCR test upon arrival in Turkey.
Read also: ‘No compulsion’ in taking Covid-19 vaccine, Qatar health official says
These guidelines will be in place till June 30, after which authorities will review the measures depending on the latest Covid-19 related developments.
In Qatar, over half of the population— aged 16 and above — have now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to recent statistics from the health ministry.
Read also: Phase 1: Qatar outlines details for lifting of restrictions.
The figures show that some 50.4% of those 16 and over have received two doses while 67.1% have received one.
The percentage of people over 40 years of age to receive one dose stands at 86.2% with 73.5% completing the course.
Meanwhile, 93.8% of those aged 60 and above received the first dose with 86.6% of this age group now fully vaccinated.
Since the start of the country’s National Vaccination Campaign, over 2,700,942 vaccine doses have been administered.
Qatar has seen a huge dip in Covid-19 numbers since the implementation of new restrictions in late April. In the last few days, the country has been reporting less than 200 daily cases— an 87 percent decrease since the peak of the second wave in April.
The recent drop in numbers can be attributed to the availability of more vaccines as well as the opening of more vaccination centres, which allowed the country to exponentially ramp up its national inoculation campaign.
The implementation of strict restrictions to curb the virus has also played an essential role in flattening the curve, which is expected to further decrease in the upcoming days.
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