Turkish authorities do not rule out next lockdown due to delta strain
Turkey may close its borders to foreigners in the event of a sharp increase in the spread of the delta coronavirus strain, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the republic Mehmet Ersoy on the air of CNN Turk TV channel, Report informs citing Turkish media.
“There is no guarantee of anything, and, of course, we need to look at what is happening in several provinces with the delta strain. However, the situation throughout the country is taken into account on international flights. The priority is maximum vaccination,” Ersoy emphasized.
According to him, if vaccination is accelerated, then Turkey will return to normal life. Otherwise, normalization will be delayed. The minister also noted that while everything is going well in the country, Turkey expects to receive 25 million tourists this year, with an income of $20 billion.
On April 16, Turkey registered the maximum daily number of coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic (63,082). In June-July, the increase stabilized at 5-7 thousand. From July 1, Turkey ultimately canceled the curfew due to the improvement of the epidemiological situation in the republic. However, on July 18, the Turkish Ministry of Health reported the maximum daily increase in coronavirus cases since the end of May – 7,680, while 66 people died from the infection in one day.