Turkey reopens restaurants, cafes as lockdown eased

ANKARA – Lifting several restrictions imposed to control spread of coronavirus, Turkey on Monday announced to reopen restaurants, cafes and historic bazaar in Istanbul.

However, bars and nightclubs were not reopened but the restaurants will have to maintain strict precautionary rules introduced by the government.

The Muslim country also reopened parks, beaches, libraries, museums and other facilities while millions of public sector employees resumed their jobs.

The Turkish government also lifted ban on inter-city travel, besides allowing domestic flights operation in several cities.

International flights have been suspended until June 10 in order to stop the flow of infection from foreign countries.

The total number of cases has surged to 164,769 in Turkey while 128,974 patients have recuperated from the infections.

The death toll from the pandemic rose to 4,563 as the country witnessed 23 new causalities in the last 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data.