![]() However, with the newly-introduced full lockdown, no one will be exempted from the curfew and travel restrictions, thus making their reservations invalid.Įrdogan said face-to-face education at all institutions, including kindergartens and nurseries, would remain suspended and all exams would be postponed. Accommodation reservations do not provide an exception.Īccording to earlier COVID-19 measures, those with reservations were able to travel across cities. He said cafes and restaurants will only offer delivery services, while chain supermarkets will be closed on Sundays.Īll intercity travel will be subject to permission, whereas public transport will operate at 50% capacity, he added. "Otherwise we will face consequences in every field from tourism to trade and education." "At a time when Europe is entering a phase of reopening, we must rapidly reduce our number of cases to less than 5,000 not to be left behind," he said. ![]() The new measures will cover the entire holy Muslim month of Ramadan, as well as three days of the Eid festival. Speaking to reporters following a three-hour Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said all workplaces will suspend their activities or shift to work-from-home models during the restrictions, except those excluded by the Interior Ministry such as food and manufacturing sectors. Turkey has become one of the countries with the fastest rising number of recorded cases.Turkey will enforce a full lockdown from Thursday evening until May 17 to stem the spread of coronavirus, the country's president announced on Monday. More than 300,000 tests have been carried out in the 83-million strong country, according to the latest data. That brings the total death toll in Turkey to 1,006. Health minister Fahrettin Koca told a news conference in Ankara that 4,747 new cases had been reported in the last 24 hours and 98 people had died. Turkey has registered a total 47,029 cases of COVID-19 so far, most of them in Istanbul, home to over 15 million people. Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of the main opposition party, who had previously called for a lockdown, was also critical of the short notice and complained of not being informed in advance. Presidential communications director Fahrettin Altun urged citizens via Twitter "to comply with this weekend's lockdown without panicking." "People are in a panic and I find this normal but this panic is not necessary," Soylu added. ![]() Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu insisted "this is not a normal curfew" and would end by Sunday night, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported. Staff at newspapers, radio stations and television networks would also be exempt, it added. ![]() The ministry said that bakeries, pharmacies, emergency call centres, gas stations and postal delivery companies would remain operational. Turkish officials rushed to reassure citizens that the lockdown did not affect basic necessities and that it would only last 48 hours. "Right now everyone is going through chaos," she added. Had it been in the morning, we would have gone to the markets to get food and drinks," Zagaia told AFP. "It is really bad that they announced it so late. Istanbul resident Simona Hayrabet, who had gone out to get some fruit and water for the weekend, said she had expected such a move by the government, "but it happened so abruptly."Īnother resident, Marina Gravina Zagaia, criticised the late night announcement while Salih Topcu, holding a shopping list written by his wife, described it as "nonsense". Roads in both cities were also full of traffic, with long queues forming outside off-licences, grocery stores and banks. The interior ministry said in a statement the order would last until midnight (2100 GMT) on Sunday in dozens of cities, including the economic hub of Istanbul and the capital Ankara.Īlmost immediately afterwards, thousands of people in Istanbul and Ankara flocked to markets and bakeries still open for last-minute shopping, AFP correspondents said.
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