Turks baking more than usual during virus lockdown

ISTANBUL

More and more Turks are staying home in line with the government's social distancing measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

To kill time, households have started baking -- more than usual.

People prefer to make their bread since they now have more leisure time, and consider it to be more hygienic.

Independent market research company Ipsos revealed that household consumption of flour in Turkey rose 98% in March as compared to the previous month.

Similarly, people bought 80% more yeast in comparison to the purchases in February.

Meanwhile, according to Google Trends, searches of terms such as bread, yeast, and related items also showed a rise during the last days of the previous month.

On Instagram, people are sharing photos of their home-baked items under related hashtags such as #breadmaking, #quarantinebaking, #baking, and #homemade.

The virus has so far claimed 214 lives in Turkey, while the number of confirmed cases has surged to 13,531, according to the Health Ministry.

Worldwide, the death toll stands at 43,288 while the number of people infected is 873,700 plus, according to figures collated by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Among the confirmed total cases, more than 184,700 people have recovered so far.

*Writing by Merve Aydogan in Ankara