Strict curbs may be revisited if virus cases keep rising

The government is weighing possible measures that could be introduced if the number of COVID-19 cases keep rising.

The confirmed daily cases, which hovered around 1,500, surpassed the number of recoveries over the past couple of days, alarming health professionals.

The Health Ministry reported 1,459 COVID-19 cases on June 13 versus 985 recoveries. On June 14 and 15, the number of people that contracted the disease jumped to 1,562 and 1,592, respectively.

If the number of daily cases exceeds 2,000, the government then may have to consider introducing localized, province-specific curfews and reintroduction of a ban on parks and picnic areas as well as events which draws crowds and imposing fines for those who do not wear face masks, in line with recommendations from the Health Ministry's Science Board, officials told Hürriyet newspaper.

According to the officials, should the number of daily COVID-19 cases rise above 2,000 this week - which is seen very likely- the introduction of those measures may be needed to slow the spread of the disease.

The officials also noted that the spread of the disease has been gathering pace in Anatolian provinces.

Istanbul, the country's largest city by population, was the epicenter of the outbreak with nearly 60 percent of the coronavirus cases recorded here in March and April.

However, this outbreak outlook has changed recently with the provinces in the Anatolia accounting for some 60 percent of all registered cases.

The western province of Bursa, the eastern province of Ardahan, Adana on the Mediterranean coast, and the Central Anatolian province of Konya, all have reported a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Five more provinces made the use face masks mandatory bringing the...