LIFE
Date published: 10 April 2020 22:35
Modified On: 12 April 2020 15:21

Ministry Imposes Last-Minute Curfew for Weekend, People Queue Up in Front of Groceries

Turkey's Interior Ministry has imposed a curfew for 31 cities with a higher population for the weekend as temperatures are expected to rise.

İstanbul
Ministry Imposes Last-Minute Curfew for Weekend, People Queue Up in Front of Groceries

People queue up in front of a grocery shop in Kurtuluş, İstanbul. (Photos: Volga Kuşçuoğlu, Ayşegül Özbek / bianet)

Click to read the article in Turkish (1) (2) / Kurdish

The Interior Ministry has imposed a curfew for 31 cities, including İstanbul, for the weekend. The ban will start at 12 a.m. on Saturday and end at 12 a.m. on Monday.

As the curfew was announced just hours before the weekend, people flocked to the streets and queued up in front of grocery shops to buy their needs.

İstanbul, the largest and the most affected city from the pandemic, and Ankara, the capital, are included in the curfew, along with 29 other cities that have a higher population. The ministry previously restricted the entrance to those cities.

Bakeries, hospitals, pharmacies and workplaces producing health products and medical supplies would continue to operate, a circular by the ministry said. The curfew would not be applicable for people who will be carrying out burial procedures for their first-degree-relatives and those who have an appointment for blood and plasma donation for the Turkish Red Crescent, it added.

Altough the government has been advising the people to stay at home, it has not imposed such an inclusive restriction on going out before. Currently, there is a curfew in place for people older than 65 and people younger than 20 and not employed. 

Temperatures are expected to rise to as high as 17 Celsius degrees on the weekend, which could have led more people to go out.

The following cities are included in the curfew: Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Hatay, İstanbul, İzmir, Kahramanmaraş, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Muğla, Ordu, Sakarya, Samsun, Şanlıurfa, Tekirdağ, Trabzon, Van and Zonguldak.

Here are some posts on social media on tonight from various parts of the country:

(EKN/VK)

coronavirüs vk coronavirus coronavirus outbreak
https://bianet.org/haber/ministry-imposes-last-minute-curfew-for-weekend-people-queue-up-in-front-of-groceries-222792
2024-05-17 12:42:31