Facing a growing number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities, Turkey will continue to impose partial restrictions to stem the virus’ spread, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
The nationwide curfew from 9.00 pm to 5.00 am will continue, Erdogan said after a three-hour-plus Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex.
As a public health measure, he added, all restaurants and cafes in the country will operate at maximum 50% capacity.
Cities facing very high risk for coronavirus will have full weekend lockdowns, he said, adding that out of 81 provinces in Turkey, 58 – or 80% of the population – are classified as very high risk for the virus.
On the country's successful vaccination campaign, Erdogan pointed to a drop in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in older people after over 10 million coronavirus jabs have been administered.
More than 8.5 million people have received their first doses, while over 6.6 million have completed a two-dose course. The categorization of provinces as facing low, medium, high, or very high risk is based on infection rates and Turkey’s vaccination campaign, which began on Jan. 14, Anadolu Agency reported.
The color-coded risk map of Turkey’s 81 provinces will be redone every week according to the risk situation, and the normalization practice will be updated every two weeks, the Turkish leader added.
