© AFP / CHRIS MCGRATHKartal Dr. Lutii Kirdar Education and Research Hospital, Intensive Care Unit in Istanbul, Turkey.
The "full closure" comes into force from April 29 and will include curfews from 7 pm to 5 am, Erdogan said in a speech on Monday after a cabinet meeting.
Anyone traveling between cities will require prior permission from the authorities, while public transport will be limited to 50% capacity, he said.
Manufacturing and food businesses will be exempt from the measures, and face-to-face teaching will be suspended in all schools.
Erdogan had already announced a partial lockdown earlier this month in Turkey for the first two weeks of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Those restrictions also included curfews and limits on inter-city travel.
The strict new measures come as Turkey's Covid-19 death rate has stubbornly remained above 300 a day for more than a week, despite a decrease in infections.
The country, which has a population of 82 million people, reported a high of 63,000 daily infections on April 16. That figure has since shrunk to 37,000 on April 26, according to the latest government data.
Erdogan said there was "no difficulty" for the country's health system in handling the current demand, but added that the daily number of new cases needed to fall below 5,000 by the end of Ramadan in order for restrictions to be eased.
Comment: Erdogan's yet another authoritarian leader who follows the PTB script in this political Corona circus. These people will do anything and will bow to anyone just to keep their position of power. That is all they really want; unlimited power and control - even if that means the degradation of their country and the lives of millions of people. For them, the injured masses are just 'collateral damage' on their way to maintaining their tyrannical reign.
See also: