COVID measures relaxed in public sector

ISTANBUL

With the number of daily infections continuing to decline, the circular regulating antivirus measures public sector employees and institutions needed to follow in the wake of the pandemic has been revoked.

The presidential decree regarding the cancelation of the circular has been published in the Official Gazette.

From now on, public sector employees will only follow the precautions and rules determined by the Health Ministry’s Science Board.

According to the circular, which is now revoked, public sector employees, who are aged 60 and above with chronic illnesses, and pregnant employees were granted administrative leave. The circular also set out specific antivirus measures for the public sector.

The move came as Turkey has been seeing a significant decline in the number of COVID-19 cases over the past weeks.

Data from the Health Ministry show that the number of daily cases, which hit record highs in February, surpassing the 100,000-threshold, has remained below 20,000 since March 18. The ministry reported that the number of infections has been less than 10,000 since April 7.

As the pandemic situation shows signs of improvement, experts are saying that the country may take a deep sigh of relief from COVID-19 if the current trend continues. But they are still concerned about the slowing pace of vaccinations, urging people to get especially their booster shots against the virus.