Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that a series of restrictions, which were previously imposed to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, would be partially lifted on June 1.
Turkey will lift restrictions on domestic travel and allow restaurants, cafes, parks, beaches, and sports facilities to reopen as of June 1, Erdogan said during a televised speech on Thursday.
Daycare centres and kindergartens, libraries, as well as museums, will also be reopened from June 1, he said, adding that public personnel would also return to their jobs on the same date, reports Xinhua news agency.
But the restriction on the movements of those aged over 65 and under 18 would continue, Erdogan added.
The government closed restaurants, cafes, bars, and other locations in mid-March when COVID-19 was first seen in the country, and imposed a ban on domestic travel in early April.
“If we see anything negative, we could reintroduce the restrictions,” Erdogan said.
The COVID-19 death toll in Turkey has climbed to 4,461 and the number of confirmed cases totalled 160,979, according to the latest figures announced by the Health Ministry.
The overall number of global coronavirus cases has topped 5.8 million, while the deaths have increased to more than 360,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
As of Friday morning, the total number of cases stood at 5,808,672, while the death toll increased to 360,289, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.
Currently, the US has 1,721,479 confirmed cases and 101,573 deaths, both tallies account for the highest in the world, according to the CSSE.
Meanwhile in terms of cases, Brazil comes in the second place with 438,238 infections.
This was followed by Russia (379,051), the UK (270,508), Spain (237,906), Italy (231,906), France (186,384), Germany (182,196), India (165,386), Turkey (160,979), Iran (143,849), and Peru (141,779), the CSSE figures showed.
Regarding fatalities, the UK continues in the second position after the US with 37,919 COVID-19 deaths, the highest fatalities in Europe.
The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are Italy (33,142), France (28,665), Spain (27,119), and Brazil (26,754).