ADVERTISEMENT

Turkey Eases Virus Measures After Declaring #MissionAccomplished

Turkey Loosens Lockdown With an End to Weekend Curfews

(Bloomberg) --

Turkey will open restaurants and beaches and end travel restrictions between cities on June 1, while keeping weekend curfews in some cities for a bit more, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.

The easing of Turkey’s coronavirus measures, guided by the nation’s top scientists, is designed to restore some measure of mobility for the population of 83 million who’ve been under curfews and lockdowns since March.

A week after his communications director declared “mission accomplished” against the outbreak, Erdogan announced that the country will also open cafes, swimming pools, thermal springs and museums in a move to restart its services sector that forms a large part of the economy.

Erdogan, however, said weekend curfews in some big cities will remain in force, signaling the government looks to keep social distancing in place to minimize the risk of a flare up of the outbreak.

“Travel restrictions between cities are completely lifted from June 1,” Erdogan told a televised news conference, adding the government may reintroduce restrictions for some cities depending on developments. “We think it would be beneficial to maintain curfews for a while,” he said referring to the weekly, two-day lockdown in major cities, including Istanbul and Ankara.

Erdogan also said that from June 1 business owners over the age of 65 will be allowed to run their businesses as long as they wear face masks.

Although Turkey has never been a regional epicenter for the coronavirus pandemic, it has severely limited people’s movements at the expense of economic activity. But with new infection rates stabilizing at their lowest levels since the outbreak began more than two months ago, officials are looking at how to roll back some of the restrictions without triggering a resurgence of disease.

Turkey Eases Virus Measures After Declaring #MissionAccomplished

Daily growth in new infections was less than 0.7% over the past week, the lowest since the first case was identified March 10, while the number of people who require intensive care at hospitals stands at 683, below the level seen March 30.

Turkey reported 160,979 coronavirus cases and 4,461 deaths as recoveries continued to surpass new cases Thursday.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.