Turkey: New virus measures inevitable if rules flouted

Turkey to continue normalization measures with strict monitoring of COVID-19 trends nationwide, says president

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey may introduce new restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus if citizens fail to comply with rules, the country's president said Monday.

"We have decided to continue implementing current [normalization] measures across our cities and to closely monitor the developments," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after a Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex.

He warned that new restrictions are "inevitable" if citizens do not comply with the COVID-19 precautionary measures.

In January, Turkey began a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign, and a gradual normalization from coronavirus restrictions began on March 1.

Erdogan said 11.5 million vaccine doses have been administered nationwide.

These include 7.94 million first doses and 3.57 million second doses.

He said the country would continue acquiring vaccines from abroad until its locally developed COVID-19 vaccine is ready for use.

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