Professor Levent Yamanel, a member of Turkey’s scientific board advising the government on COVID-19, said the country might adopt new measures including curfews, the T24 news website reported on Monday.
The statement came after Turkey reported an increase in the number of new cases of COVID-19, with 1,562 diagnosed over the last 24 hours.
“There may be temporary upward trends. We cannot make up our minds in two or three days,” Yamanel said. “If the numbers continue to rise for a week or 10 days, it means the spread has gained momentum, in which case we may have to take new measures.”
“We already have important measures that we call the new normal to abide by: wearing masks, implementing social distancing, hand washing and avoiding crowds.”
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Sunday announced that the country’s death toll had reached 4,807 and that the total number of cases hit 178,239.
Turkey lifted restrictions on intercity travel and allowed restaurants, cafes, parks and sports facilities to reopen on June 1 after a sharp slowdown in the number of new cases and fatalities due to COVID-19.
Turkey reported the lowest number of daily infections on June 2 with 786, but the number has been on an upward trajectory since then.