Turkey's Erdoğan announces new strict measures to fight COVID-19 pandemic

Turkey on Monday announced strict new measures to fight the novel coronavirus, as the daily infection numbers in the country recently crossed 1,000 and beyond.

"In all provinces, no standing passengers in public transportation will be allowed," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said after an over four-hour Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara.

Cafes and restaurants will also be subject to stricter inspections, he added.

On the new school year, Erdoğan said: "We will continue education with a system where we will do both face-to-face and remote education, taking into account the conditions of the epidemic."

Turkey will open schools to education, starting with pre-school and first grade primary school students, according to the preference of individual families, he added.

Turkey's COVID-19 tally on Sunday rose to 279,806, with 1,578 more cases over the past 24 hours, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.

He said that 53 more patients lost their lives, bringing the death toll to 6,673, while recoveries reached 251,105.

Monday's figures are due out soon.

Across the world, COVID-19 has claimed almost 890,000 lives in 188 countries and regions since last December.

More than 27.2 million cases have been reported worldwide, while over 18.15 million patients have recovered, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.