Turkey eases coronavirus restrictions

Turkey on Monday, May 31 eased some public gathering restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus.

Addressing reporters following a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that a curfew will be imposed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weekdays and Saturdays in June.

A full lockdown will be imposed on Sundays until further notice.

Restaurants and cafes will serve in-person between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., and delivery will continue until midnight.

Turkey started a gradual normalization process on May 17 after a 17-day lockdown that significantly brought infections in the country down.

Until June 1, the country enforced weeknight curfews from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., while weekends were under full lockdown.

Turkey has so far registered 47,405 deaths from COVID-19, while over 5.1 million people have recovered from the disease. There have been over 5.2 million confirmed cases in the country.

Turkey has administered over 29.06 million coronavirus jabs since launching a mass vaccination campaign in mid-January, according to official figures.