Following the lead of the legitimate Cypriot government, the Turkish occupied northern third of the island's self-declare republic put an overnight curfew in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.

That was done after a Council of Ministers meeting led by Ersan Saner, who calls himself Prime Minister of an alleged government no other country in the world recognizes apart from Turkey, which set it up after unlawful 1974 invasions.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu News Agency reported Saner said while the goal is to protect lives as well as trying to keep alive an economy which had been struggling in the best of times on the isolated side.

The curfew will start at 10 at night and last until 5 in the morning from Jan. 17-25 at least, he added and the issue of schools reopening will be taken up on Jan. 25 after talking with the Communicable Diseases Supreme Council, Saner also added.

A vaccine campaign began Jan. 14 with 20,000 does that came from Turkey, which the Turkish-Cypriot side calls the Motherland.