Turkey will gradually ease lockdown restrictions after the Eid holiday as coronavirus cases and fatalities continue to ebb nationwide, the country's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.
"Hopefully, by bringing the pandemic under control, we will take normalization steps in a controlled manner after Eid," Erdogan said in a video message celebrating the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday that will start on Thursday.
According to Erdogan, "good days are ahead even though we are having a bitter holiday due to the problems caused by the pandemic."
He recalled that last Eid, Turkey was hoping to overcome COVID-19, but the new waves across the world in the following months affected the country.
The Turkish leader said that restrictions became a necessity with rising rates of cases and deaths, as the country is under full lockdown until the end of the Eid holiday on May 17.
Stressing that Turkey will continue to fight against the novel coronavirus, he said the country will use every method, including vaccination, to overcome it.
Erdogan noted that the government extended a helping hand to all those affected by the pandemic by providing support packages.
"We are determined to ensure that our country takes its deserved place in the global political and economic system that will be reshaped after the pandemic," Anadolu agency cited the head of state as saying.
Turkey began a 17-day lockdown on April 29 that will last until May 17, also covering this week’s Eid al-Fitr holidays.
