Turkey will enforce a full lockdown from April 29 evening until May 17 to stem the spread of coronavirus, the country’s president announced on April 26.
Speaking to reporters following a three-hour cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 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 the food and manufacturing sectors.
The new measures will cover the entire holy Muslim month of Ramadan, as well as three days of the Eid festival.
Erdoğan noted that without stricter restrictions and lower infection rates, there would be a “heavy price” for tourism, trade and education, adding that the aim is to reduce daily infections to 5,000.
“At a time when Europe is entering a phase of reopening, we must rapidly reduce our number of cases to fewer than 5,000 not to be left behind,” Erdoğan noted.
Erdoğan said cafes and restaurants will only offer delivery services, while chain supermarkets will be closed on Sundays.
All intercity travel will be subject to permission, whereas public transport will operate at 50 per cent capacity, he added.
With the newly-introduced full lockdown, no one will be exempt from the curfew and travel restrictions, thus making their reservations invalid.
Schools will not operate between April 29 and May 17, according to the new measures.
Erdoğan said face-to-face education at all institutions, including kindergartens and nurseries, would remain suspended and all exams would be postponed.
“All workplaces will suspend their activities during the full lockdown, except those excluded in the Interior Ministry circular,” he said.
Since mid-March, the country has seen the daily figures keep rising and into the 60,000s.
In the last month and a half, smaller restrictions such as weekend curfews have been introduced however the high daily number of cases and deaths has meant a full lockdown.
Over the last week, the daily cases have fallen, within the last two-day reporting to around 38,000 while the daily deaths for both days are around 350.
