Flights and car travel resumed between Turkey's big cities while cafes, restaurants and Istanbul's Grand Bazaar reopened in the country's biggest step to ease restrictions taken to contain the coronavirus pandemic, according to Reuters.

Traffic levels jumped in the commercial hub of Istanbul, with many Turks returning to work as the government sought to revive an economy hit hard by the pandemic. Employees of government offices and public facilities joined the many factory workers who restarted last month.

Masked shopkeepers opened and cleaned their stores at the Grand Bazaar, which media reports said was the scene of one of the first virus outbreaks in March.