Turkey gives travel permit to tea producers amid virus

Turkey on Tuesday announced that tea producers will be allowed to travel to the cities their fields are located in with a special permit as partial restrictions continue in the country.

In a statement, the Turkish Interior Ministry said that tea producers will be allowed as of May 19 midnight following lifting of a four-day partial curfew.

The ministry added that those tea producers, who were given travel permission, have made a commitment to staying only in the designated areas for 14 days and to comply with the COVID-19 measures.

The long-awaited permission came days before tea harvesting began in Turkey's tea production provinces.

Turkey currently has 139,771 confirmed cases, and the death toll stands relatively low at 3,841.

After originating in China last December, COVID-19 has spread to at least 187 countries and regions. Europe and the US are currently the worst-hit regions.

The pandemic has killed nearly 287,000 worldwide, and it infected some 4.2 million, while over 1.46 million people recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.