Azerbaijan to impose curfew amid coronavirus outbreak

BAKU

Azerbaijan will impose a nation-wide lockdown due to the novel coronavirus outbreak starting Tuesday.

After a meeting on the pandemic, country's cabinet announced on Monday that the curfew would be launched across the country between March 31 and April 20.

The public will only be able to venture outside their homes to buy immediate medical needs, if their lives or health are in danger and to dispose of home waste, it added.

According to the order, all shops and restaurants will be closed, except for markets, pharmacies, takeaway venues and online sales facilities.

All entertainment centers, museums, cinemas, theaters, gyms, hairdressers and beauty salons, tailors and photographers will be closed until April 20. Get togethers including weddings and parties were also banned, with the exception of funerals.

A total of 273 coronavirus cases have been confirmed so far in Azerbaijan and four people died of the disease while 26 others recovered.

The novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China last December. There are currently more than 766,300 cases worldwide and over 36,800 reported deaths with more than 160,000 recoveries, according to U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

*Writing by Havva Kara Aydin