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Turkey is experiencing the second peak of its novel coronavirus outbreak, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Wednesday, while the government announced new restrictions on weddings and other social gatherings as daily cases and deaths rise rapidly.

Fatalities have jumped to their highest since mid-May, when lockdowns were in place, and new cases have risen to mid-June levels, at almost 1,600. Turkey mostly reopened the economy and lifted weekend and age-specific lockdowns in early June, Reuters reported.

The number of new cases rose by 1,596 to 273,301 in the last 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data, while the death toll from the virus rose by 45 to 6,462 on Wednesday.

Koca told a press conference after meeting his coronavirus science team that the capital Ankara had seen the most rapid rise in cases lately, producing double the numbers of Istanbul, previously the outbreak’s epicenter in Turkey.

“We are going through the second peak of the first wave of coronavirus. The carelessness at weddings and religious holidays has bought us to this point,” Koca said, but added lockdowns to curb the outbreak were not on the government’s agenda for now.

Following Koca’s remarks, the government announced new restrictions on weddings, limiting their duration to an hour, banning all food and drinks. It also banned the attendance of senior citizens and children to such gatherings.