Turkey to release thousands of prisoners amid outbreak

ANKARA - Turkey's parliament on Tuesday passed a law that will allow the release of tens of thousands of prisoners to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the jails.

"The draft has become law after being accepted," the official Twitter account for the parliament's general assembly said.

According to the law, about 45,000 prisoners will be temporarily released under judicial control till the end of May, and the authorities can extend the period twice by a maximum of two months.

Another batch of some 45,000 prisoners will be released permanently to reduce the overcrowding in the jails.

However, those jailed on terrorism charges are excluded from the release.

Turkey has registered more than 61,000 COVID-19 infections with nearly 1,300 deaths as of Monday.