National security

Some of the officers in the newly established police directorate for task operations and counterterrorism will take part in special training programs focused on shooting, checking and buildings' securing skills as well as on detaining terrorists and releasing hostages.

Turkey is under a nationwide curfew spanning the traditional New Year's holiday that has started on Dec. 31 until early Jan. 4 as part of measures to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The curfew has begun on Thursday at 9 p.m. and end at 5 a.m. local time on Monday.

France is to mobilise 100,000 police and gendarmes on New Year's Eve to break up parties and enforce a curfew imposed to combat coronavirus.

The extra security also aims at halting the torching of cars that often takes place on the final night of the year.

France has confirmed 2.6m Covid-19 cases, the fifth highest total in the world, and more than 64,000 deaths.

Turkey is set to welcome the new year under a four-day lockdown, spanning from tonight 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Jan. 4 as part of measures against COVID-19.

The authorities this month had re-introduced weekend lockdowns as well as nighttime curfews amid a spike in infections and deaths.

More than 10,000 police officers will be deployed throughout the country for New Year's Eve in order to ensure compliance with the measures for preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The restrictions will be similar to those imposed for the Christmas holiday but police checks will be more intensive.

Turkey will close certain streets and squares during the upcoming four-day weekend curfew as part of measures against the spread of coronavirus during the New Year's Eve celebrations, with the ban also covering foreign tourists, authorities announced on Dec. 30. 

Procedural and administrative actions have been taken against a total of 40,591 people across Turkey who violated the weeknight curfews and full lockdown on the weekend between Dec. 21 and Dec. 28, the country's Interior Ministry has said.

Records are being broken in the United States as well, and the pandemic has contributed to the highest mortality in American history. In Germany, despite strict measures, a record number of dead.
Israel today reported four cases of a new strain of coronavirus that appeared in Great Britain, Reuters reports.

The number of coronavirus cases in Istanbul dropped 40% last week, the city's governor said on Dec. 21. 

Ali Yerlikaya said on Twitter that there is a continuous drop in the positive COVID-19 cases in Istanbul and the districts which saw the fastest drops were Arnavutköy, Beyoğlu and Avcılar.

Turkey ended a countrywide weekend curfew early on Dec. 21 as part of measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The curfew began on Friday at 9 p.m. and ended on Monday at 5 a.m. local time.

In late November, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced new COVID-19 restrictions, including a curfew on weeknights and full weekend curfews.