Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cancelled plans to reintroduce a lockdown in various cities, citing a need to avoid “social and economic consequences”.

The interior ministry had announced plans for a weekend curfew in 15 cities - including Istanbul and Ankara – overnight.
However, Erdogan later tweeted that he had decided to cancel the plans, following a backlash from citizens.

Turkey reopened restaurants, cafes and beaches earlier this week, as well as allowing domestic travel to recommence.
Erdogan said he had believed a second lockdown was needed, after the number of new daily cases jumped to almost 1,000 on Thursday, up from about 700 in previous days.

"As a result of this negative development, we had to once again bring the stay-at-home order on our agenda," he tweeted. "However, the reactions we received from our people pushed us to re-evaluate the decision."