Сafes, restaurants, barbershops, wedding halls, theaters and several other businesses across Turkey are to close after 10 p.m. as President Recep Tayyip Erdoпan on Tuesday announced new measures to combat the increase of coronavirus patients in the country, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Erdogan said while announcing the new measures that Turkey has managed to keep the resurging COVID-19 threat under control.
Erdogan said while the outbreak worsened on a provincial level at certain times, from a general standpoint the situation did not require any dramatic measures as of yet.
Explaining that restaurants would be allowed to remain open for takeaway and delivery services, the president also said incentives would be introduced for businesses to offer alternative shifts to their employees.
Istanbul was one of the provinces suffering from a more severe outbreak, with Health Minister Fahrettin Koca last week announcing that the city currently hosts 40% of the country's current COVID-19 patients.
Calling public transportation the biggest contributor to the spread of the virus, with millions of commuters packing mass transit vehicles during rush hour, Koca was the first to suggest alternative shifts for the workers of the country's most populated city.
Koca expressed that the city was at a critical point in which a further rise of infections could lead the outbreak to spiral out of control, while urging businesses to do "everything they can" to lessen the load on public transportation.
In a slightly contrasting tone to Koca, Erdogan said on Tuesday that the COVID-19 crisis had not reached critical levels anywhere in the country but still urged citizens to remain vigilant and to keep following precautions.
On the return of 5th and 9th grade students to school on Monday, Erdogan said the long-drawn process of reopening schools had been going smoothly and no major outbreaks had been reported on campuses so far.
The final phase of the reopening would be discussed between the authorities and the Coronavirus Science Board before being put to action, he added.