Weekend curfew becomes effective across Turkey

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - A Turkey-wide weekend curfew became effective on Friday as part of measures to stem a new coronavirus wave.

The weekend-long curfew in the country began on Friday at 9 p.m. and will end on Monday 5 a.m. local time.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in late November announced new restrictions, including a curfew on weeknights and a full weekend curfew.

Some sectors, including production, supply, health, and agriculture, will be exempt from the curfews, Erdogan said.

Supermarkets, grocery stores, butchers, and dried fruit shops will operate between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. over the weekend.

Bakeries will also be open during the weekend curfew.

Meanwhile, restaurants will only offer delivery service between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The announcement came after a surge in the number of COVID-19 patients in Turkey.

On Friday, Turkey reported 17,543 new COVID-19 infections, including 3,199 symptomatic patients, and saw 256 more deaths over the past 24 hours.

Since Thursday, as many as 35,511 people recovered in the country, bringing the tally to 1,970,803, and the death toll climbed to 19,371.