Six-hour lockdown starts in Turkey as 1.6 million students take exams





Istanbul (dpa) - A limited nationwide lockdown started in Turkey on Saturday, in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus during high school entry exams for 1.6 million students, state news agency Anadolu reported.



The curfew in all the country's 81 cities is in effect from 9 am to 3 pm (0600 to 1200 GMT) to avoid crowds during entrance and exit of the exam.
Anadolu shared footage of students wearing masks and queuing to enter the exam centres under security measures. The students, some of them accompanied by parents, were provided with extra masks and disinfectant. Security personnel wore protective face shields and gloves.
A second curfew will be imposed on June 27 and 28, coinciding with the university entry exam, for the same six-hour period, the Interior Ministry said this week.
The limited lockdowns come amid an increase in the number of those infected during the past two weeks.
Those who will accompany the students and people who have already bought a ticket for inter-city travel are exempt from the ban.
In addition, supermarkets and bakeries will remain open.
Turkey has mainly imposed weekend lockdowns in some provinces, with only one nationwide curfew since reporting its first case on March 11. The latest weekend curfew was two weeks ago.
There have been more than 185,000 infections and 4,905 deaths.
The country of 83 million eased restrictions earlier this month, reopening restaurants and sports leagues, and resuming flights.

 


Saturday, June 20th 2020
(dpa)
           


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