Turkish restaurants reopened and many children returned to school on Tuesday after the government announced steps to ease Covid-19 curbs even as cases edged higher, raising concerns in the top medical association, according to Reuters.

On Monday evening, President Tayyip Erdogan lifted weekend lockdowns in low- and medium-risk cities and limited lockdowns to Sundays in those deemed higher risk under what he called a “controlled normalisation”.

Cafe and restaurant owners, limited to takeaway service for much of last year, have long urged for a reopening of in-house dining after sector revenues dropped 65 per cent. They also want relief from growing debt, and from social security and tax payments.

“We were serving 4,000-5,000 people a week. Now with takeaway services we are serving only 500 people,” Istanbul-based Pideban restaurant owner Yusuf Kaptanoglu said before the easing measures were announced.

“I did not benefit from any support including loan support,” he said.