Shock and panic buying as a 48 curfew is imposed in most of Turkey

With only a two hour warning thousands of people took to the streets in order to buy any necessities that they might need. As many of you will have seen the images of the people crowding the streets, wearing no masks and putting many lives at risk as there was no social distancing between them.

It is understandable that people who needed things like baby milk and low income families who needed supplies would rush out to get these items, but as the images show, this would not be the case for most of the people who took to the streets.

The curfew includes the provinces of Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Aydin, Balikesir, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul, Izmir, Kahramanmaras, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Mugla, Ordu, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Tekirdag, Trabzon and Van.

The ministry said the curfew would begin at midnight and end at the same time on April 12.

These new measures came after the country’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by 98 to total 1,006 and new confirmed cases rose by 4,747 to bring the country’s total to 47,029.

The curfew means that approx 64 million people, or 78% of the countries entire population will spend the weekend in their homes.

As the weekend is forecast to be sunny there were concerns that around two-thirds of the population would ignore the calls for social isolation which in turn would bring more people out into the streets.

Bakeries, pharmacies, emergency call centers, designated gas stations, package and postal delivery companies and animal shelters, among other businesses, will remain operational.

Many people are saying that if you can go out for bread, then what is the point of the curfew? Kusadasi Municipality has stated that bread sales will be made by mobile deliveries and announcement vehicles will be letting people know when they are in their area.

Water deliveries will still be in service.

This text message that many people have received states that “bread ovens in our district will sell bread with mobile vehicles in every neighborhood between 08:00 and 11:00 and 13:00 to 16:00. For your other urgent needs (pharmacy, etc.), Pigeon Table continues to be at your service. You can reach us from our call center at 444 71 14, our Whatsapp line at 0552 460 40 40 and our social media accounts. You stay at home, we are with you.

Water deliveries will still be in service and for other emergency needs (pharmacy etc) you can call 444 71 40 460 121″. (Google translated)

For those who violate the curfew, a prison sentence of up to 1 year and a fine of over 3 thousand liras will be imposed.