Turkish President Erdogan announced full lockdown for Turkey from April 29 to May 17 to fight against the spread of COVID-19. “The number of cases should go down to less than 5,000 per day” Erdoğan said, adding that Turkey should not fall behind at a time when the European countries have gone under an opening process, which points to the government’s projection on tourism season.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting, Erdogan said that the lockdown will be continuous and will last until May 17- the end of Ramadan Holiday.
There will be restrictions to intercity travel while intercity public transport will operate at 50 percent capacity.
Schools will also stop in-person education until the lockdown ends. Exams have been postponed.
All businesses will be closed, except for organizations that are exempted in areas determined by the Ministry of Internal Affairs such as production, manufacturing, food and health.
Businesses in the catering sector will be able to carry out package service at any hour if the conditions are suitable.
Chain markets will be open and will be able to serve at specified hours except for Sundays.
The public sector workers will work from home or in turns.
Along with the president’s speech, the Health Ministry announced the weekly number of cases. Accordingly, the number of Covid-19 cases per 100 thousand people stood at 854.75 in Istanbul, 567.88 in Ankara and 335.09 in Izmir.
The President had announced a two-week partial lockdown on April 13th to help curb a recent rise in coronavirus cases whih had not helped at all.