Turkey targets return to normal toward end of May – Erdogan

The coronavirus outbreak in Turkey is starting to reach a plateau and the country aims to return to normal life after the end of Ramadan in late May, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.

Cases of the Covid-19 disease have risen to 95,591 in Turkey with the death toll at 2,259. In turn Ankara has adopted increasingly tight measures to curb the spread.

"This pandemic has become the biggest crisis since the Second World War in terms of its economic consequences," Erdogan was cited as saying at a video conference meeting of the governing AK Party.

President Erdogan also said: “Turkey, for the first time since the Second World War, has gained an opportunity to take part in the centre of a restructuring process at the global level.”

"We aim to achieve maximum observance of measures during the month of Ramadan and, God willing, a transition to normal life for our country after the holiday (at the end of Ramadan)," he said.

As part of efforts to tighten those measures, Erdogan said on Monday a four-day lockdown would be imposed in 31 cities from Thursday after similar stay-at-home orders were enforced over the last two weekends.

Thursday is a national holiday in Turkey, while Friday marks the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Turkish authorities said grocery shops will remain open until 2 pm (1100 GMT) on Thursday and Friday for people to make essential purchases.