Surging coronavirus cases in Ankara are stretching hospitals to the limit and Turkish authorities need to impose a fresh lockdown to bring the virus under control, doctors in the Turkish capital were quoted by Reuters as saying.

The city is now the epicentre of Turkey's Covid-19 outbreak, the government announced this week, and although authorities say there is no plan for a lockdown as yet officials privately say new measures may be needed soon.

“Ankara has become Wuhan,” said geriatrics professor Mustafa Cankurtaran at Ankara's Hacettepe medical faculty, referring to the Chinese city where the new coronavirus first emerged.

“Ankara is seriously in big trouble,” a doctor said. “They really need to impose restrictions on being outdoors.”