Turkey imposes a complete lockdown between April 29 and May 17

Yesterday evening, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the imposition of a complete lockdown in the country from April 29 until May 17 to combat a third wave of the outbreak of the Corona virus.

And the country with a population of 84 million people also witnessed a high number of daily deaths due to the virus, which amounted to about 350, a number that exceeds the two highest rates recorded last year.

Turkey counted 37,312 new injuries yesterday, the highest in Europe, but it is still less than the peak of injuries recorded earlier this month, when it reached about 60,000.

"We must work to reduce the number of injuries quickly to less than five thousand a day," Erdogan said in a televised speech.

He added that a "total closure" would be imposed in Turkey, obliging people to stay in their homes, in addition to stopping all non-essential work.

Movement between regions will be banned and shops will be closed on Sundays for the first time.

These measures seem to be aimed at avoiding another spike in infections during Eid al-Fitr, with the end of Ramadan in mid-May.

These new restrictions come as Turkey largely lags in implementing its planned vaccination plan after a rapid start in mid-January.

Turkey gave two doses to eight million people, at a time when it was pressuring China to receive quantities of the 100 million doses it had contracted to buy from the Sinovac vaccine.

Turkey also received the first shipments of Pfizer vaccines, and reached an agreement with Russia to produce the "Sputnik" vaccine locally.

The official total death toll in Turkey from the virus has reached 37,312 so far.

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