Turkey lifts 4-day coronavirus curfew in 31 provinces

ANKARA

Turkey lifted a four-day curfew as of midnight Sunday which had been imposed in 31 provinces to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The government enforced its third weekend stay-at-home order, which included the national April 23 holiday and its following day.

"Our citizens in 31 provinces obeyed the curfew by and large staying at their homes,” said the Interior Ministry in a statement.

"Judicial or administrative proceedings were applied to 35,422 people who did break the curfew between 0 a.m. (1000GMT) Wednesday till Sunday 8 p.m. (0600GMT),” it added.

It was also stated that quarantine was lifted in 177 settlements in 44 cities on Sunday.

The ministry underlined that regulations to curb the spread of the virus, such as compulsory wearing of masks and keeping social distance in markets, square and streets, will be strictly monitored over the next week.

The country's first curfew was implemented on April 11-12.

The curfew was imposed in the capital Ankara as well as in Adana, Antalya, Aydin, Balikesir, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul, Izmir, Kahramanmaras, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Mugla, Ordu, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Tekirdag, Trabzon, Van and Zonguldak provinces.

Before the first curfew, 35% of the coronavirus cases in Turkey were among people 65 years old or older, while the percentage has since dropped to 18%, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Friday.

The coronavirus death toll in Turkey reached 2,805 as of Sunday, with 110,130 cases, according to the country's Health Ministry.

After originating in Wuhan, China last December, COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has spread to at least 185 countries and regions across the world, with Europe and the U.S. currently the worst hit.

The pandemic has killed over 205,900 people with total infections exceeding 2.96 million, while more than 861,500 have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.