Erdogan begins to ease Turkeys coronavirus restrictions

Turkey will start easing coronavirus containment measures from Monday, President Tayyip Erdogan said, lifting inter-city travel restrictions in seven provinces and easing a curfew imposed on senior and youth citizens.

Turkey has about 130,000 confirmed coronavirus cases – the highest total outside Western Europe, the United States, and Russia – and has been in lockdown at weekends and on national holidays since the start of April.

Ankara started implementing containment measures after its first coronavirus case was reported in early March. It has imposed travel restrictions in 31 major cities and also shut schools, restaurants, bars, and shops.

However, Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey will start easing measures gradually in May, June, and July after the spread of the virus slowed over the past two weeks.

The number of coronavirus fatalities in Turkey has risen by 65 to 3,461 in the past 24 hours, Health Ministry data showed on Monday, with the number of cases rising by 1,614 to 127,659.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said that senior and youth citizens will be allowed outside for four hours for one day a week from next weekend and that travel restriction would be lifted for seven cities, excluding Istanbul, Izmir, and capital city Ankara.

The restrictions will be lifted for Erzurum, Aydin, Hatay, Malatya, Mersin, Antalya and Mugla but remain in place for 24 other provinces, Erdogan said.

Shopping malls, barbershops, and some stores will be allowed to open on May 11 provided they abide by so-called normalization rules, adding that universities would return to their academic calendar on June 15.

(c) Reuters

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