Turkey closed schools for the remainder of the semester and introduced a nationwide weekend curfew from 8 p.m. to 10 a.m. as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday announced several restrictions to curb the increasing number of COVID-19 patients across the country, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting that lasted more than three hours, Erdogan said business such restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls and hair salons would have their operating hours limited to between 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The president also said the previously introduced curfew for senior citizens 65 and over would be expanded to include people 20 or younger.
The partial curfew for those age groups will allow them to go outside only between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The new restrictions also order that all sports events be held without fans.
The other measures Erdogan announced include the closure of coffeehouses until further notice, as well as shutting down cinemas until the end of the year.
Concerning education, the president said the schools that entered a weeklong fall break on Friday would remain shut and education would be switched to online only.
Following declining coronavirus numbers in the summer, Turkey kick-started a multiphased plan in September to reopen schools, reintroducing students back to classrooms grade-by-grade.
While the Education Ministry was in the final phase of its plan to fully reopen schools, with no major outbreaks reported among the students, the general outlook of the worsening coronavirus crisis forced the government to revert back to online education.