ISTANBUL, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's biggest city Istanbul on Wednesday obliged citizens to get a "health code" to be able to enter all public institution buildings, a move to curb the fast spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In line with the new rule, people will be allowed to access public offices only after they show the code and prove that they are not infected with the coronavirus.
The code, provided by an e-government portal, also reveals whether citizens have recently contacted an infected person.
Starting from the early hours of the day, local officials have taken additional measures across Istanbul to reduce overcrowding at the gates of the public institutions and assisted citizens on how to get their codes online.
"Our staff has been trying to help those who couldn't download the related mobile application to get their codes," Sefa Demiryurek, district governor of Uskudar on the Asian side of the city, told reporters in front of the government office.
Meanwhile, the Provincial and District Filiation Board meeting was held under the coordination of Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya to discuss and evaluate the existing and possible additional measures to be taken in the megapolis with a population of over 16 million.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said the board prepared an inclusive road map to conduct a comprehensive struggle against the pandemic under the coordination of the governorship.
According to the latest data of the Health Ministry, Istanbul recorded a total of 205 new daily cases in the previous day, indicating an 8.1-percent decrease from the figures on Monday. Enditem
