Covid-19: Turkey begins "total" containment of 17 days

Audio 01:16

Istanbulites are shopping at the market a few hours before the entry into force of a new 17-day lockdown in Turkey on April 29, 2021. AP - Emrah Gurel

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

Turkey entered this Thursday evening in a confinement of 17 days described as "total".

Until May 17, with some exceptions, Turks can only go out to do their shopping in food stores - the only ones allowed to remain open, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

These unprecedented measures aim to stem the spread of the coronavirus epidemic after an explosion in the number of daily cases.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul,

Anne Andlauer

Hasan, a barber for 35 years in the same district of Istanbul, closed his shop like all businesses in Turkey deemed "non-essential".

But the barber, very indebted, does not know if he will be able to reopen after this confinement.

“ 

I am extremely worried.

Over a year, I lost 70% of my clientele, he

laments. 

And now, total closure!

Financially, it is untenable.

Because of the pandemic, I make a living from day to day.

If I work, I eat.

If I close I don't know what I'm going to eat.

 "

The Turkish government, which has promised to pay aid, hopes that this strict confinement will also be the last.

The goal is to bring the number of new cases of Covid-19 below 5,000 per day, compared to more than 40,000 currently.

Recep Koç, an official at the Istanbul Chamber of Physicians, is not convinced by what he calls " 

half measures

".

“ 

This month Turkey experienced an unprecedented epidemic peak.

So it's too late, too little… We had called for four weeks of confinement.

And then people can't take it anymore!

For a year, we have been closing, opening, closing, opening ... I see this paradoxical effect in my patients: on the one hand, they no longer have confidence in the containment measures.

On the other hand, the arrival of vaccines encourages relaxation. 

"

This family doctor is all the more worried that the vaccination campaign is slower than announced.

To date, 13.5 million Turks have received at least one dose.

Or 16% of the population. 

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  • Turkey

  • Coronavirus

  • Health and medicine