ISTANBUL, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The use of public transportation in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul has recently dropped over 90 percent since the beginning of March, the Istanbul metropolitan municipality announced on Monday.
Murat Ongun, a spokesperson for the municipality, tweeted that such a sharp decrease was observed for the first time in the city in one month.
A total of 382,492 residents out of a population of over 16 million used public transportation, including subway services, metro buses and others, on Sunday, the graphic of the municipality revealed.
The number signified a total of 91.7 percent decrease when compared to the figures recorded at the beginning of March, according to the data.
Ongun said the main reason behind this sharp decrease lies in the high number of the confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the city.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said last week that more than half of the cases were registered in Istanbul.
According to the latest figures released the previous day by the ministry, Turkey has recorded a total of 574 deaths and 27,069 cases in total.
Also on Monday, Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul, reiterated that the nostalgic tram that travels from the central Taksim square along the pedestrian Istiklal Street would be suspended.
The mayor also said the emergency lighting system would be initiated in all the metro stations, and the frequency of subway services would be reduced.
Turkey on Friday night declared a partial curfew for the citizens under the age of 20 to curb the fast spread of the pandemic, but exempted young employees including seasonal agricultural workers aged between 18 and 20.
The government had already banned elderly citizens over 65 years old and those with chronic diseases from going out of their homes.
