Turkey may roll out stricter virus measures if cases rise

Nuray Babacan-ANKARA

Turkey may implement stricter measures if the number of COVID-19 cases that have already neared 350,000 won’t come down in the coming weeks.

The authorities are currently weighing possible precautions to curb the spread of infections, including night or weekend curfews in large provinces as wells restrictions to be imposed on certain age groups.

They assess that with colder weather people are increasingly gathering in indoor places and public venues, such as restaurants and cafes, and are not fully complying with anti-virus measures.

The impact of schools reopening and people gathering in indoor places is expected to be seen in the next two weeks and the officials will decide on additional measures if necessary.

As part of those “winter measures,” inspections in indoor venues and public transport will be carried out on a daily basis and working hours may be rearranged.

But those actions will be rolled out gradually depending on the course the outbreak will take.

Provinces may individually choose from and employ those curbs by taking the number of cases in their regions into account.

The caseload of infections in the next 15 days will determine which “winter measures” will be rolled out.