Pandemic in Turkey: Movie halls to remain closed until March 1

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The Ministry of Interior has sent an additional circular letter regarding cinema halls to the 81 governor's offices across Turkey.

According to a previous circular, the cinema halls would remain closed in the country until December 31 (today). With this new circular letter, this period has been extended until March 1, 2021.

As part of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic measures, nearly 2,400 cinema and theater halls were temporarily closed on March 16. While a few of them reopened on July 1, 15-20 cinema halls started screening the films from March. New halls followed suit in August 2020.

As part of the new measures introduced on November 17 amid a surge in cases and deaths, cinema halls were closed until the end of the year.

Public health boards will give decisions

The circular letter has also been published on the official website of the Ministry of Interior. Referring to the "requests from the sector and the meetings held with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism officials", the Ministry has indicated that "with the aim of maintaining and supporting the measures adopted in the struggle against the pandemic, the activities of cinema halls will be suspended until March 1, 2021."

While the District and Provincial Public Health Boards will reportedly take the necessary measures as per the Articles 27 and 72 of the Law on Public Health, "an administrative action will be taken against the ones disobeying the ban as per the related articles of the Law on Public Health and, in the event that the actions constitute a crime, the necessary legal action will be taken as per the Article 195 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK)." (AS/SD)