Jeyhun Aliyev
November 29, 2020•Update: November 29, 2020
ANKARA
Education and training will be held virtually in kindergartens, nursery classes and practice classes in Istanbul to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Saturday.
Distance learning in pre-schools will start Dec.1 and run until Jan.4, the provincial governor's office said on Twitter, where it shared a statement regarding details of the decision.
The Education Ministry said Nov. 20 that pre-schools will continue face-to-face education despite a recent surge in coronavirus cases.
It noted, however, that education and training activities in public and private schools would continue remotely from Nov. 20 to Jan. 4.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced earlier partial weekend curfews and several measures to stem the spread of the outbreak.
As of Saturday, Turkey confirmed nearly 488,000 patients afflicted by the virus and more than 13,300 deaths. A total of 396,227 patients recovered, according to data from the Health Ministry.
The pandemic has claimed more than 1.44 million lives in 191 countries and regions since last December.
More than 62 million cases have been reported worldwide, with an excess of 39.6 million recoveries, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.
While the US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of the number of cases, Europe is in the grip of a devastating second wave of infections.
