İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu said Turkey’s curfew on the elderly could be extended to the rest of the population amid measures to combat the novel coronavirus, the T24 news website reported on Monday.
Appearing on a daytime show on Fox TV, İmamoğlu criticized people’s refusal to comply with warnings from officials to stay at home.
“Yesterday, I received a few images where people, particularly youngsters, were seen in a football match and other sports activities. This shows how greatly we’re underestimating [the risk],” İmamoğlu said.
“Let me be blunt. The fact that people over the age of 65 were restricted from leaving their homes does not mean that the same won’t be imposed on the rest. It was implemented around the world,” he said.
“Unfortunately, as the weather improved, people wanted to have picnics,” he said. “Let me tell you something very interesting. The Chinese consul general’s house is located near the Belgrade Forest. On the telephone he said, ‘How could people not understand? How could they go out to the park? There is nowhere to park your car around the Belgrade Forest.’ This is extremely scary.”
Although the number of people infected with COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, has been on the rise in Turkey, a number of videos circulating on social media showed that many Turks are ignoring warnings from officials to stay at home to mitigate the outbreak.