Wearing face masks made compulsory in 7 more provinces in Turkey

* News & Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca made a brief statement on Twitter in early midnight hours today (June 16) and announced that wearing face masks outside is now made compulsory in 5 more provinces of Turkey, namely in Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Kayseri, Rize and Urfa.

Koca has announced the ban with the following tweet:

"Our provincial boards of public health chaired by our governors, primarily in our provinces which have stood out with their increasing number of cases, keep on taking decisions against the risk.

"Wearings masks is a social responsibility calling for sanctions in our 42 provinces. We cannot fight against the virus without masks."

Vaka artışlarıyla dikkat çeken şehirlerimiz başta olmak üzere, artış eğilimi olan yerlerde il hıfzıssıhha kurullarımız, valilerimiz başkanlığında riske karşı kararlar almaya devam ediyor. 42 ilimizde maske, yaptırımı olan bir sosyal sorumluluk. Virüsle maskesiz mücadele edemeyiz. pic.twitter.com/oqYtNhMOW6

— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) June 15, 2020

Later in the day, the Governor's Offices of Yalova and Bitlis have announced that it will also be forbidden to go out without wearing masks. 

It is now forbidden in 44 of 81 provinces

With the addition of these five provinces, it is now forbidden to go out without wearing face masks in following 44 provinces: Adıyaman, Afyonkarahisar, Amasya, Ardahan, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bartın, Batman, Bolu, Burdur, Denizli, Düzce, Elazığ, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Iğdır, Isparta, Maraş, Karabük, Kırklareli, Kocaeli, Konya, Kütahya, Malatya, Mardin, Muğla, Muş, Nevşehir, Osmaniye, Sakarya, Siirt, Sivas, Şırnak, Tunceli, Uşak, Zonguldak, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Kayseri, Rize, Urfa, Yalova and Bitlis.

Coronavirus reopening in Turkey

Turkey's easing of coronavirus measures started as early as on May 11, 2020, when the government reopened shopping malls, albeit with new physical distancing and hygiene rules. This was followed by more steps on June 1, including the reopening of cafes, restaurants and similar places, as well as parks, beaches and recreation areas.

On the same day, entry and exit restrictions for 15 larger provinces, including İstanbul and Ankara, were lifted and domestic flights resumed. On June 5, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan abruptly lifted the weekend curfew for the 15 provinces, which was declared by the Interior Ministry about 12 hours before. The weekend curfews had been in place since April 11.

The President further announced on June 9 that people over the age of 65 would be allowed to go out between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. A curfew was declared for the elderly on March 22. Those younger than 18 were also allowed to go out on the condition of being with their parents.

The government also resumed international flights on June 11 and said that all tourism facilities, theaters, concert halls would reopen on July 1.

Death toll nears 5 thousand in Turkey

Yesterday (June 15), Turkey confirmed 947 daily recoveries from the novel coronavirus, bringing the total to over 152,000. The number of people beating the disease reached 152,364, while 722 patients remain in intensive care, Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca said.

The country's death toll from the pandemic rose to 4,825, as it reported 18 new fatalities in the past 24 hours. Health care professionals conducted 42,032 tests for the disease in the past day, raising the total count to over 2.67 million. According to test results, the total number of COVID-19 cases nationwide reached 179,831, with nearly 1,600 new infections. (TP/SD)