Turkey imposes weekend virus curfew in 15 provinces

Turkey imposed a two-day curfew in 15 provinces beginning midnight Friday in an effort to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus that has claimed nearly 4,500 lives in the country.

The curfew will be in effect in Ankara as well as Istanbul, Izmir, Balıkesir, Bursa, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Manisa, Sakarya, Samsun, Van and Zonguldak.

Markets, grocery stores, greengrocers, and butchers will continue to operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time (0700GMT -1400GMT) May 30, but will close May 31.

Also, bakeries will remain open during the curfew.

The first curfew was declared April 11-12 and was followed by subsequent ones in the recent weeks.

The pandemic has claimed more than 358,000 lives in 188 countries and regions since originating in China last December. The US and Europe are currently the world's worst-hit regions.

More than 5.9 million cases have been reported worldwide. Nearly 2.4 million people have recovered, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

Turkey confirmed 160,979 cases Thursday, while recoveries surpassed 124,000.