Turkey set to again tighten COVID-19 curbs after surge -source

ANKARA - Turkey's daily coronavirus infection numbers have soared above 50,000 and President Tayyip Erdogan is likely to order a tightening of restrictions this week ahead of the vital tourism season, a senior government official said.

Turkey ranks fourth globally in new case numbers, which peaked near 56,000 last week - a five-fold jump from early March, when Erdogan loosened social curbs in what he called a period of "controlled normalisation". Ankara has blamed lax public adherence to rules and virus variants for the surge, and on March 29 it announced weekend lockdowns and closed restaurant dining for Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month that starts on Tuesday.