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When Turkey changed the way it reported the daily number of people infected with COVID-19, it reaffirmed what medical organizations and opposition parties had long expected: that the country was facing an alarming increase in cases that was rapidly depleting the health system of Turkey.
In a sudden change, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week resumed reporting all positive coronavirus tests, not just the number of patients who have symptoms and are being treated, raising the number of new cases per day. to more than 30,000. Data that the country has suddenly gone from being one of the least affected in Europe to one of the most affected by the pandemic.
This came as no surprise to the Turkish Medical Association, which has been warning for months that figures from the previous government obscure the severity of the spread of the virus and that a lack of transparency is contributing to the spread of the epidemic. However, the organization claims that the figures presented by the ministry remain low compared to its estimates of at least 50,000 new cases a day.
No country can report the exact number of infected people, as many asymptomatic cases remain unaccounted for, but the above count made Turkey look relatively good in international comparisons, with the daily number of new cases below that of several European countries. like Italy. , Great Britain and France.
That changed on Wednesday, when the daily number of cases nearly quadrupled, from 7,400 to more than 28,300.
The country’s hospitals are under enormous pressure, medical staff are overburdened and supporters, previously believed to be keeping the epidemic under control, are having difficulty tracking the transmission of the virus, Shebnem Korur Finjanji, who heads the union, told AP. doctor.
“A catastrophic situation,” said Finjaji, whose organization was targeted by Erdogan and his nationalist allies for questioning government figures and the authorities’ response to the epidemic.
Although the Health Minister has set the occupancy rate in intensive care units at 70 percent, Ebru Kuraner, who heads the Istanbul-based Association of Intensive Care Nurses, says that intensive care unit hospitals in Istanbul they are almost full and the doctors are struggling. to find places for critically ill patients.
There is a shortage of nurses and the existing staff is exhausted, he added.
“Nurses in intensive care units have not had a chance to return to normal life since March,” he told AP. “Their children have not seen their faces without masks for months.”
However, Erdogan said there was “no problem” with the hospital’s capacity. He blamed the increase in cases of non-use of masks, which is mandatory, and the breach of social distance rules.
Showing the severity of the epidemic, Turkey last month suspended health care leave and temporarily banned leaving work and early retirement during the pandemic. Similar restrictions have been in place for three months since March.
The official death toll from Kovid-19 also rose steadily to record levels, reaching 13,373 on Saturday with 182 new victims, reversing the perception that the country has managed to keep deaths low. But those record numbers are also controversial.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said 186 people died of infectious diseases in the city on November 22, a day the government announced only 139 Kovid-19 deaths nationwide. The mayor also said that around 450 funerals are held daily in the city of 15 million people, up from an average of 180-200 a day in November last year.
“We can only defeat the pandemic through a process that is transparent,” said Imamoglu, a representative of Turkey’s main opposition party. “Russia and Germany have announced a large number of casualties. Has Germany lost its shine? Has Russia collapsed?”
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca rejected Imamoglu’s claims, saying: “I want to emphasize that all the figures I present are accurate.”
A week earlier, Erdogan announced a series of measures in an attempt to slow the spread of the infection without affecting an already weakened economy or business. Opposition parties have criticized them as “half-hearted.” It introduced curfews for the first time since June, but limited them to weekends, closed restaurants and cafes except for home services, and limited working hours at malls, stores and barber shops.
Both Fanjaji and Kuraner say the measures are not enough to stop the spread of the disease.
“We need a complete lockdown for at least two weeks, if not four, which science considers the ideal option,” Finjaji said.
Koca said the number of seriously ill patients and deaths was increasing, and said that some cities, such as Istanbul and Izmir, were experiencing a “third peak.” However, Turkey will wait two weeks to see the results of the weekend curfew and other restrictions before considering tighter closures, he said.
Meanwhile, the country has agreed to receive 50 million doses of the vaccine, developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company SinoVak, and hopes to begin giving it to medical personnel and the chronically ill next month. It is also negotiating the purchase of the vaccine, produced by Pfizer in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company BioNTech. A vaccine developed by Turkey is expected to be ready in April.
Erdogan said he also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the possibility of buying a vaccine that Russia is developing.
/ From BTA /
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