Istanbul

Stores in Istanbul that are still open and provide essential goods in Istanbul are struggling to meet the soaring demand with their army of delivery people.

I don't remember the exact details of my 40-hour trip from Phoenix to Vucje. It got all mixed up in half-dreaming on airport benches, heavy breathing into surgical masks and listening to podcasts about the decline of the Roman Empire.

Turkey will establish two more hospitals with a capacity of 1,000 beds each in Istanbul for amid the novel coronavirus pandemic across the globe, the country's president said on April 6. 

A British couple who were on a world tour on their caravan has been in voluntary self-quarantine in the parking lot of a sports facilities in Istanbul's historic Yenikapı district for 17 days, after Turkish borders closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Residents of Turkey's largest city taking mass transit now must wear face masks to help stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, authorities said on April 3. 

"Passengers without a face mask will not be admitted on buses, metro, metrobus, or city line ferries as of tomorrow," Murat Ongun, a spokesperson for the Istanbul Municipality, said on Twitter.

Turkey's Interior Minister said on late April 2 that Istanbul, the city with the most confirmed coronavirus cases, imported the COVID-19 cases from Europe and the government has been paying extra attention to the situation in the metropolis.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on April 1 slammed the Republican People's Party (CHP) municipalities for carrying out their own fundraising campaigns to help citizens during the coronavirus outbreak, accusing them of attempting to be "a state within the state."

Authorities are considering additional measures to curb intercity travel particularly in the country's three largest cities, Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir, in the face of the threat the coronavirus may spread from the populous provinces towards towns in other parts of Turkey.

Turkey's Interior Ministry has said that municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) are "not abiding by the laws" in donation campaigns they launched during the coronavirus outbreak.

In a circular, the ministry said the municipalities need to get permission from the corresponding governor's offices for the launched donation campaigns.

Seagoing passenger service from the Turkish metropolis Istanbul to other cities has been suspended over the coronavirus outbreak, Istanbul's provincial governor announced on March 30.

The suspension of sea bus and ferry service, which does not include cargo transportation, began as of 5 p.m. (14:00 GMT), Ali Yerlikaya tweeted.