Turkey - New measures for combating coronavirus announced by the President on 30 November 2020

1. Weekdays lockdown: A general lockdown will be applied every weekday between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.

2. Weekends lockdown: General lockdown shall also be applied from 9:00 p.m. on Friday to 5:00 a.m. on Monday morning on weekends.

3. Limitation of scope of lockdown:

  1. Sectors, such as production, supply, logistics, health, agriculture and forestry are outside of the scope of the lockdown.
  2. Businesses such as grocery stores, butchers, greengrocers and places that provide home delivery services are excluded from the weekend restrictions within the specified hours, restaurants shall not serve other than take-away.

4. Mass transport:

  1. Except for specified in the previous circulars (e.g. employees proving it with social security records), people over 65 years old and under 20 years old shall not use public transportation.
  2. Public Hygiene Boards shall take the necessary measures in order to detect and eliminate the errors in public transport services in the provinces that lead to the spread of the epidemic.

5. Education: Activities of kindergarten and similar educational institutions shall be suspended.

6. Home visits: There shall be no activities at home where communities come together, such as visits, condolence and New Year celebration.

7. Gatherings: Funeral prayers shall be performed with a maximum of 30 people, including the relatives of the deceased, and also, weddings shall not exceed this number.

8. Businesses to be closed: Places such as Turkish bath, sauna, SPA, swimming pool, amusement park shall suspend their activities.

9. Shopping malls and bazaars:

  1. The Public Hygiene Boards shall determine the number of customers that they accept at the same time for each shopping mall and district bazaar.
  2. HES code (the code indicating whether there is any risk in terms of Covid-19 disease or not within the scope of the Mobil Application developed by Ministry of Health) shall be asked when entering to the shopping malls.

10. Boulevards and squares: The number of people who may enter the crowded streets and squares shall be limited by the decision of the Public Hygiene Board.

11. Public services: The working hours of public institutions other than the compulsory services determined by the Public Hygiene Board shall be applied between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. hours.

12. Workplaces: In workplaces with more than 50 employees, the implementation of epidemic measures shall be strictly supervised by the existing occupational health and safety specialist or a designated staff, under the supervision of the workplace doctor.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.