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Coronavirus pandemic

Turkey imposes full lockdown until May 17, Erdogan says

According to the president, these measures are aimed at reducing the coronavirus incidence rate to 5,000 cases per day

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

ANKARA, April 27. /TASS/. Turkey’s authorities will introduce a full lockdown across the country from April 29 until May 17 amid the COVID-19 spread, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced after the cabinet’s meeting on Monday.

"Since 7.00 p.m. on April 29 until 5.00 a.m. on May 17 a full lockdown will be imposed. All offices, work places, besides those especially mentioned by the Interior Ministry, will be shut down. Inter-city trips will be carried out upon a compulsory permission, public transport will work at a 50% capacity," Erdogan said.

According to the president, these measures are aimed at reducing the coronavirus incidence rate to 5,000 cases per day.

Amid the lockdown, classes in kindergartens and schools will be canceled. Other educational institutions will be switched to remote learning and exams will be delayed. A curfew in the evening and night hours will remain in force. Hotels will stop booking reservations and will introduce a tough quarantine.

The lockdown in Turkey will continue until the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Earlier, the authorities announced partial restrictions during the first two weeks of this month, but they failed to drastically change the situation with the COVID-19 spread. Over the past days, the daily growth rate hit 40,000-50,000.

Turkey recorded the first COVID-19 case on March 10, 2020. This was a local citizen, who had returned from Europe. The country’s total caseload has exceeded 4.4 mln. As many as 36,975 people have died and another 3,844 patients have recovered.

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Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan

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