Turkey lifts 48-hour coronavirus curfew in 31 provinces

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey lifted a 48-hour curfew as of midnight Sunday which had been imposed in 31 provinces to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The government imposed its second weekend stay-at-home order after the country's first curfew was implemented on April 11-12.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced earlier that the measure would continue "as needed."

The curfew was imposed in the capital Ankara as well as in Adana, Antalya, Aydin, Balikesir, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul, Izmir, Kahramanmaras, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Mugla, Ordu, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Tekirdag, Trabzon, Van and Zonguldak provinces.

Before the first curfew, 35% of the coronavirus cases in Turkey were among people 65 years old or older, while the percentage had since dropped to 18%, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Friday.

The coronavirus death toll in Turkey reached 2,017 as of Sunday, with 86,306 cases, according to the country's Health Ministry.

After originating in Wuhan, China last December, COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has spread to at least 185 countries and regions across the world, with Europe and the U.S. currently the worst hit.

The pandemic has killed nearly 165,000 people with total infections exceeding 2.39 million, while more than 611,800 have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.