Turkey imposes night curfews on weekdays, full lockdown on weekends

Photo: AA

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The government will impose curfews between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. on weekdays and a full lockdown on weekends to slow down the spread of coronavirus, President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced today (November 30).

The weekend curfews will start at 9 p.m. on Fridays and end at 5 a.m. on Mondays, said Erdoğan, adding that the new measures will be implemented starting tomorrow.

The new measures came after a sharp increase in the deaths and cases of Covid-19 in the country since mid-November as the Ministry of Health reported record high numbers of fatalities day after day.

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Sectors such as production, supply, logistics, health and agriculture will be exempted from the measures, said Erdoğan.

Groceries, butchers, and supermarkets will offer order services during the curfews while cafes and restaurants will continue to be restricted to takeaway services, the president noted.

Shopping malls will stay open but only people with a "HES code," which can be obtained from the Ministry of Health's mobile application, will be allowed.

People younger than 20 and older than 65 are banned from using public transportation, according to the new measures.

The Ministry of Interior will announce further details regarding the restrictions, according to the president.

The government implemented a series of new measures on November 20, including a partial weekend curfew, amid an increase in new cases. However, the number of new cases and deaths has continued to increase since then. 

Criticizing the measures as being ambigious and insufficient, medical organizations have advised a full lockdown of at least two weeks amid the recent surge in cases. (VK)