President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced a full curfew on weekends, starting from Friday night until Monday morning.
Speaking following a cabinet meeting, Erdoğan expressed that there will be a weekday curfew between 9 p.m and 5 a.m. across the country, adding that the weekend curfew will begin this Friday at 9 p.m. and go on until 5 a.m. Monday.
"From now on, HES codes will be asked of visitors when entering shopping malls; day care centers are shut down until further notice while the number of people participating in weddings or funerals is limited to 30," the president continued.
In addition, people 20 and younger as well as those 65 and older are barred from using public transportation, he said, adding that restaurants will operate on a delivery-only basis.
Erdoğan also expressed that Turkey will begin COVID-19 vaccinations next month. "We have made a deal for 50 million doses for the initial phase," he said, adding that Turkish citizens will be provided the coronavirus vaccine for free.
The new measures came following the rise in COVID-19 numbers throughout Turkey.
Previously, a partial curfew was imposed on weekends, however, as the numbers continued to increase, additional measures were considered to be needed.
Although COVID-19 recoveries have reached 404,727', Turkey is confronting an apparent second wave of the outbreak. The overall tally of patients exceeded 500,000 as of Monday, while the death toll now stands at 13,746.
