Turkey has announced that it is extending an upcoming weekend lockdown to include a public holiday on Friday, as it grapples with soaring infections.
An Interior Ministry statement said the lockdown will begin Thursday evening and end Monday morning.
Turkey has been posting record levels of infections and deaths since it eased COVID-19 restrictions in early March, The Associated Press reported.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan placed the country under a partial lockdown on April 13, involving an extended evening curfew on weekdays, a return to online education and a ban on unnecessary intercity travel, in addition to weekend lockdowns, which were re-imposed earlier.
The government has blamed the rising numbers on faster-spreading variants.
