The world is going through a nightmare it hasn’t dreamt of ever. Covid 19 is going on a rampage across the world. Social distancing, lockdowns, tests for positivity, herd immunity and sanitization methods are novel terms. Some of them throw light on tentative solutions too. If all of us were programmed robots, the solutions may have worked better. Some element of imperfections are inherent when it comes to immediate response to safety instructions coming from the authority.
Getting adapted to a virus-combat strategy takes time but the virus doesn’t allow you that. To make matters worse, the possibility of invention of an anti-viral or a vaccine is still far fetched. But the situation can’t be allowed to roll like that. If we manage somehow to keep the virus at bay, death would come in some other form.
Documentations endorsing corona virus free travel
Extended lockdown would not allow workplaces to function stopping bread to reach hungry mouths. Among other industries hit hard by the Covid 19 wave, tourism industry is panicking, its existence may get wiped out. In the light of above threats, some sort of valid documentation should vouch for you that you are free from the disease.
With the fresh spike of positive cases in India, the government has put emphasis on covid – 19 free certificates. For people moving in from China, South Korea and Italy, carrying this paper is a compulsory obligation. The documents would say that these travelers have tested negative for covid -19. Only listed laboratories approved by the ministry of health of these countries would be qualified to carry out such examinations. This new enforcement has already come into existence from 10th of March this year. Even so this is only a provisional course of action until situations normalize.
The first reported case from Wuhan in China should find a place in world records. So would this invincible virus, being the most formidable threat to mankind in this century. Currently, almost all the countries are affected and symptoms are dry cough and cold, lung inflammation and shortness of breath. Sufferings culminate in death in absence of proper treatment.
Tourism opens in Turkey
PC: TOI
Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Minister for Tourism and Culture in Turkey has reported an added drive to validate tourist spots in his country as corona – virus free, once this pandemic subsides. Endorsement is of course subject to necessary tests.
The tourism department people feel the virus won’t go until next few months. The Minister is however optimistic that normalisation turn around would hopefully be in the horizon in mid – May. The entire country including its people, hoteliers, tour agents, industry top brass and ministry have joined hands together.
The resolution is firm enough to make the tourism sector rolling by the close of holy month of Ramadan.Being one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world, a lot of tourist money is at stake for Turkey. The Agean beaches, Anatalaya and historical monuments crawl with tourists round the year.
The virus, if allowed to gnaw into the financial wound causing damage further, scale of loss would be scary. The virus free certification procedure would be in line with the global standard covering three segments : Tourists, transportation and facilities. Every medium of contact gives the virus a highway to spread around.
Good news! Turkey has opened for tourism with specific safety protocols in place. It has also introduced Covid-free certification for tourism hot spots to ensure 100% safety for travelers.
Special sanitization protocols released
Sterilization of every point of contact is crucial.Hotels,vehicles, travel agency offices, airports, restaurants needs to be practically bathed frequently with disinfectants. Places of tourist attractions like museums and historical sites need a similar treatment.
It is mandatory for manpower supporting the tourism industry to earn immunity certificate and training in pandemic management. Social distancing is the watchword and to be ensured by crowd administration frontliners. Thermal control devices employed by safety staffs at tourist spots to keep a tab on crowd temperature, an indicator of virus infection.
Call has been given to NGOs as well to offer their valuable and voluntary involvement. In 2019, Turkey’s tourist visit touched 51.8 million people. By 2023, the number is projected to climb further to 75 million tourists, and that is big money ! The country cannot afford to lose it.
Would you be allowed to travel to places you like?
Lockdown and social distancing are slowly paying off, the nature reclaiming back spaces once denied. The earth is at its greenest, skies look brighter and bird calls a little louder. This is the right time to go places and explore nature.How different the world seems today all sweet melody is so augmented. Rising bird twitter is a bliss just to show what a massive cover of noise pollution we had been living with.
Meanwhile river banks and sea shores are seeing more and more aquatic birds and animals basking. Flamengoes have been seen in Navi Mumbai creeks. Deer, lemurs and civets have started exploring city interiors amid lockdown. They seem quite content unaware of the viral siege. Ignorance is bliss, animals are devoid of extinction worries as a species . They live on a day to day basis and have no significant retentive memory and no futuristic expansion plans. They had always been better off until we started intervening in their lives.
Immunity passports
Covid-free health papers enable tourists to prove they are not infected although currently UK is not granting any such document . A tourist from the UK will have to be tested for antibodies. An alternate arrangement for tourists leaving UK are immunity passports that say the holder once had corona virus but presently free from infection.
As announced by Euro News weekly, the Madrid Association of Hoteliers are making a scrutiny into covid free hotel certification. This would ensure that boarders and staffs are virus free. Mechanism of this security check is not clear but hotel guests look capable of proving they don’t carry the virus.
Many countries have gone a step further to shut their borders and that was a move taken after finding many travelers into those countries didn’t have covid free documents. In the events of lockdowns being gradually taken off, desire to travel may soar when vacationers would start feeling the significance of these documents.
Can corona-free certificate provide the right solution?
The covid free documents are no permanent answers, the virus being known too little. Its behavior is unpredictable and none could guarantee it won’t make a come back even after a patient is cured.In the words of Claire Stanley, assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Centre for Global Health Science and Security ‘ not just could tests identify antibodies not connected with coronavirus, they aren’t reliable enough’.
She further went saying ‘ High pseudo – negative rates ( lack of sensitivity ) of tests imply that those presently at hand are not prescribed for patient level clinical diagnosis ‘. Now all these complications are mirroring our mistakes, past actions back firing on us. We have been cheating ourselves fiddling with nature too long.
We tend to forget that in nature everything is connected. That mistaken notion that our species is the only supreme one and the rest are either for decoration or consumption or for other forms of entertainment has brought us where we are today: facing the lethal virus in a dark tunnel with hardly any silver lining streaming in.
Just a short time back, the Emirates has proposed a required blood test for passengers on plane. The proposal is likely to be introduced to other flights too. The test would give reports in ten minutes. But whether the unwilling passengers would be denied boarding has not been confirmed.
Germany has also been buying the concept of immunity passports and have started testing 100000 people a day. Application of antibodies test will be initiated to find out if a passenger has earlier had covid -19. They will get necessary papers showing their position.
The Thai government is going for stringent regulations on international travel. Thai airports would check corona – free certificates as well as medical insurance to cover treatment expenses. The country is very careful in weighing risks of infection against loss of enormous tourism business. Plan and implementation of safe travel directives are yet to see a smooth roll out. The civil aviation authority of Thailand is still getting ready to execute the government protocols.
These measures do not appear to reconcile with ground realities because many countries will not test people for the virus. Unless symptoms exist and other criteria are met testing necessities look unimportant. The judgment follows a couple of days after the government states that medical and insurance papers would not be required for all.
Only people arriving from ‘ disease outbreak ‘ zones like South Korea, China, Macao, Hong Kong, Italy and Iran would need to comply with these directives. Further ‘on going local transmission ‘ areas have also been identified to follow the mandate. Parts of Japan, US, Britain and eight other countries are included in this group.
Health certificates should come in hand within 3 days from boarding flight. Insurance cover must take care of USD 100000 in medical expenses. Even for Thai citizens, medical certificates are compulsory but not the insurance policy. But they should stay in self quarantine for two weeks although quarantine orders for visiting foreigners are vague.
As covid – 19 combat policy, major holidays of the country like Songkran have been deferred. Schools, massage parlors and other places of community entertainment have been shut down. All major tourist attractions like Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya have come together in enforcing these constraints. Public gatherings are discouraged and social distancing have become the new survival strategy.
Can tourism spring back soon?
The issue is when would we go off to the deepest end with current rate of backslide? The employment scenario is already a bad dream of doom and state of sustaining inputs for survival is no better. But it is also likely if the infection graph gets flattened or even lowered in near future, the tourism market will spring back sharply on cushioned investor faith .
Month-long lockdowns and banishment indoors have been tiring for many. They would certainly get their hands on to any reliable platform supplying hopes for safe travel. Still there are a lot of unexplored and grey areas concerning travel safety and the way virus behaves in coming days is not visible.
Any trusted and seriously researched program for enhancing tourism throughput may not end in social rejection. Particularly for people who like to see the world around. It is quite probable that people would desire short haul trips once the lockdown is lifted. The backbone of tourism industry is the efficient communication channels.
Big players in the industry are trying hard to fan the fire in the belly of travel hungry consumers. Their desire to visit places should not die. This is the right time to expose people to as much media feedback as is feasible considering they are spending most of the idle time before the internet.
Social media and coordination with travel agents is a potent tool and it is evident since people are stuck up at home digital communication has soared. These players are focusing on their homework hard training manpower effectively.
Successfully handling customers after about four months from now would be the key to recovering losses incurred from business stagnation. Various training programs are in the pipeline to prepare the staffs on insights of tourist destinations. Hopefully tourism business would bounce back given the plans work well.
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