UPDATE 1-Turkey urges discipline ahead of new COVID-19 curfews

ISTANBUL, Nov 18- Turkey’s government urged “tight discipline” on Wednesday as the country prepared for new weekend curfews, online schooling and limits on restaurants and cafes that are to begin Friday evening and last through year end to contain the pandemic. President Tayyip Erdogan announced the tighter restrictions on Tuesday in response to a…

ISTANBUL, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Turkey’s government urged

“tight discipline” on Wednesday as the country prepared for new

weekend curfews, online schooling and limits on restaurants and

cafes that are to begin Friday evening and last through year end

to contain the pandemic.

President Tayyip Erdogan announced the tighter restrictionson Tuesday in response to a coronavirus surge that has broughtreported daily cases and deaths to levels last seen in lateApril, just after the initial peak.

“Without losing anything, the virus has gone into the massinfection period,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reportersin parliament. “It seems we must put our lives under tightdiscipline for some time,” broadcasters quoted him as saying.

COVID-19 has killed a total of 11,704 in Turkey according toofficial figures that opposition lawmakers and medical groupshave criticised for masking the true scale of the outbreak.

The government – which since July has not reported confirmedasymptomatic cases of COVID-19 – said there were 3,819 newsymptomatic patients and 103 deaths on Tuesday.

In a notice, the interior ministry said restaurants, cafes,hairdressers and shopping malls will only operate from 10 a.m.to 8 p.m. locally (0700 GMT to 1700 GMT). For dining, onlytakeaway and delivery services will be allowed.

Under the new curbs, which will take effect from 8 p.m.(1700 GMT) on Friday, cinemas will be closed and schools willprovide online education for the rest of the year.

A partial weekend lockdown will be imposed nationwide untilfurther notice, the ministry said, adding these would notdisrupt supply and production chains.

Meral Aksener, leader of the opposition Iyi Party, said thenew measures were insufficient. “I am calling to the rulingparty from here: the pandemic looks out of control. The picturein Istanbul is a total catastrophe,” she said.

She urged a 14-day nationwide lockdown and reiterated a callby Istanbul’s mayor who said virus deaths in the city aloneoutstrip reported nationwide figures. Istanbul reported 9,872pandemic-related deaths as of Nov. 14 compared to the nationalgovernment’s reported 11,418, she said.

“There is something off with this because there is notransparency, no honesty,” Aksener told her party’s lawmakers inparliament.

(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun, Ali Kucukgocmen and Tuvan Gumrukcu;Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Jonathan Spicer)