Turkey to ease covid restrictions next month, Erdogan says

Turkey will ease COVID-19 restrictions on a provincial basis in March, President Tayyib Recep Erdogan said yesterday.

The risk level will be classified as “very high”, “high”, “medium” and “low” for every province, the premier said, with public health boards in each province able to decide whether to lift restrictions or tighten them based on those levels.

Since December, Turkey has been under nationwide restrictions, including weekend lockdowns and evening curfews, as cases of the fatal virus increased.

“The roadmap for the opening of restaurants and cafes will be revealed next week,” Erdogan said.

Turkey has so far reported more than 2.6 million cases of coronavirus and nearly 27,000 deaths since the outbreak began in March last year.

Turkey started a nationwide vaccination last month.

Over 4.6 million people, mostly health care workers and the elderly, have received the first jab of the inoculation since 14 January and about 777,000 people have already received a second dose.

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