Turkey declares “full lockdown” to fight virus spread

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared a full lockdown until May 17, following an April 26 cabinet meeting on measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 cases.
The lockdown begins at 7 p.m. on April 29.
“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.

Tourists to Turkey were exempted from the former curfews and the same may apply to the lockdown.

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.

This means a full-day curfew.

Accommodation reservations, which were sufficient for the travel permit due to the restrictions of the previous period, are no longer sufficient.

Intercity transportation will be subject to permission, vehicles will be able to work at half capacity.

Face-to-face education was suspended in all educational institutions. Exams have been postponed.

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.

“In order to be comfortable after Ramadan, the numbers must fall much lower than today. It is important that we make a little more sacrifice in the coming days. We are receiving complaints that fees are being charged in private hospitals. No fees can be requested from our citizens for these services. They have sanctions,” Erdoğan said.
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.