Turkey to lift COVID-19 weekend curfew as scheduled

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will lift at midnight an ongoing weekend curfew imposed in 31 provinces to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday.

Residents of these provinces complied with the curfew restrictions, the ministry said in a statement.

"Judicial and administrative proceedings were opened on 20,398 people who violated the curfew rule," it added.

The ministry reiterated that the most important factor in combating the epidemic was social distancing and isolation.

"We ask our citizens not to leave their homes unless it is compulsory."

This weekend, Turkey imposed its second weekly stay-home order after the country's first 48-hour curfew was implemented on April 11-12.

Last Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the measure would continue "as needed."

The curfew was imposed in the capital Ankara, as well as the 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.

The coronavirus death toll in Turkey reached 2,017 as of Sunday, with 86,306 cases to date, according to the country's Health Ministry.

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

The pandemic has killed over 165,600 people, with total infections exceeding 2.38 million, while more than 611,700 have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.