Turkey announces 'full lockdown' from April 29 to curb COVID-19 spread

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turks will be required to stay mostly at home under a nationwide 'full lockdown' starting on Thursday and lasting until May 17 to curb a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths, President Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday.

Turkey's 37,312 new infections reported on Monday were the highest in Europe but still down from the peak of nearly 60,000 reported earlier this month.

"We must quickly reduce the number of cases to less than 5,000 a day," Erdogan said in a televised address.

He said Turkey would enter 'a full closure' that requires people to stay indoors without a valid reason and sees all non-essential businesses closed.

Travel between regions will be restricted and supermarkets will also be closed on Sundays for the first time.

The measures appear to be designed to avoid another spike around the time of traditional family gatherings and celebrations that take place when the holy month of Ramadan ends in mid May.

The new restrictions come with Turkey falling considerably behind its planned inoculation schedule after a quick start in mid-January.

It has provided two jabs to eight million people and is pushing China to speed up the delivery of Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine after securing a deal for 100 million doses.

Turkey has also received its first deliveries of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and has reached a deal with Russia to start producing Sputnik V locally.

Turkey´s official death toll from the virus now stands at 37,312.