Turkey will impose a four-day partial curfew in 31 states beginning Friday midnight until the midnight of Tuesday, May 19, announced President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the counyry continues to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak.
"There will again be a lockdown in place on May 16-17-18 and 19," he said in an address to the nation following a weekly cabinet meeting on Monday.
Further, Erdogan said intercity travel restrictions on nine more cities had been lifted.
Starting next week, those aged 65 and above will be allowed to go outside from four to six hours on Sundays. Those under 20 will be allowed to go outside for six hours, twice per week.
He added that the hospitals, currently under construction, at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and in Sancaktepe will help with medical tourism for people arriving from abroad.
Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that international flights will gradually resume in June, noting that the country will contact 70 countries to relaunch air traffic in a bid to bring tourists back to Turkey.
Shopping centers reopened in Turkey on Monday after a 50-day shut down. Preventive measures have been introduced, including taking the temperature of shoppers before entering the mall. Anyone with a temperature above 38 will be directed to a medical center.
The opposition, however, criticized the reopening of malls while COVID-19 cases are still being registered and people are not abiding by preventive measures.
Turkey reported 55 deaths on Monday and 1,114 more infections. This raises the death toll to 3,841 and overall infections to 139,870.
