Turkey to continue weekend Covid-19 curfews - Erdogan

Turkey will continue with its weekend curfews to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the country's president announced on Monday, with the next curfew to be imposed on April 18-19.

"As part of the fight against the epidemic, we decided to continue the curfew on weekends as needed in the coming period," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said following a three-hour virtual Cabinet meeting.

"Turkey will complete [construction of] a new hospital for Covid-19 patients in Istanbul's Basaksehir by May 15," he added.

He also announced the establishment of two new hospitals with a total of 350 beds in Istanbul for coronavirus patients.

"Turkey continues its fight against coronavirus pandemic with determination," he said.

Erdogan stressed that Turkey has made significant progress in bringing the coronavirus outbreak under control, adding that the country is facing no difficulties in supplying its people with personal health and cleaning materials.

"With the measures taken, Turkey tops the countries which brought the outbreak under control in the fastest way," he said.

The Turkish president also ruled out any borrowing arrangement with the IMF during the pandemic.

On Monday, the death toll in the country from the coronavirus rose to 1,296. The country has nearly 61,049 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

Since appearing in Wuhan, China, last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 185 countries and regions.

Data compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University shows worldwide infections have surpassed 1.87 million, with the death toll above 116,000, while more than 441,800 have recovered.