Late last Friday, Turkish government announced a weekend lockdown for 31 cities, but given just two hours’ notice, hundreds of thousands of people rushed out to make last-minute purchases.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday ordered a fresh lockdown next weekend, warning the move would be imposed as long as necessary to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.
Last week’s late announcement and the subsequent chaos led to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu taking responsibility and announcing his resignation Sunday, but Erdogan told him to stay in his post.
“We are going to take the necessary measures to avoid the unnecessary disorder that took place before,” the president said. The purpose of the all-day weekend curfews was to protect citizens from the virus by ensuring they stayed at home, he added.
Turkey has recorded more than 61,000 COVID-19 infections and nearly 1,300 have died, according to health ministry figures published Monday.
