Purple is everywhere in Kuyucak, a small village of 261 people in western Turkey. The village, which attracted about 500,000 tourists last year to its vast lavender fields, has one thing missing: the coronavirus. Locals are proud of being a rare location where no cases have been reported since the deadly disease made its foray into Turkey in March 2020.
An eco-tourism hotspot, the Isparta province community has been free of infections so far and locals say they have not heard of any cluster of cases from regular visitors either. Some attribute it to the “healthy” effect of lavender but the village’s strict compliance with rules has apparently played a role in dodging the lethal infection. Locals and visitors…