Turkey imposes partial curfew to fight coronavirus surge

“We are facing a serious situation,” Erdogan told the nation on Tuesday after chairing a cabinet meeting. “The number of cases and deaths have reached a serious level, starting with Istanbul, so we need to be more careful.”

The president ordered restaurants and coffee shops to switch to only takeout service.

The curfew would be from 1700 to 0700 GMT [8pm to 10am local time] and start this Friday. The supply chain will not be disrupted.

Cinemas will be closed while schools will switch to remote learning until the end of the year. Stores and shopping malls have only been allowed to open for a few hours.

A partial curfew which was already in place for people above the age of 65 has also been expanded to include those under 20, with the exception of those who have to go out for work.

New cases and deaths

On Monday, Turkey reported another 3,819 infections and 103 fatalities. The death toll has reached 11,704. It is the first time the daily toll topped 100 since April 25.