Local officials have accused Turkey's government of moving too slowly to combat bird flu when it was still confined to fowl, as the number of people infected with the deadly H5N1 strain climbed to 18.
Mukkades Kubilay, the mayor of Dogubayazit -- where three siblings died a week ago -- complained that Ankara had sent only three doctors to help, and that there were not enough workers to help destroy chickens, ducks and geese as a precaution.
"It's an extraordinary situation," she said on Thursday.
"There aren't enough workers. We don't have enough technical people ... We're trying to do it on our own." she added.
National health and agriculture authorities denied they had done too little, too late, to contain the outbreak, which was first discovered in poultry in December and swiftly spread to people.
"Whoever says that we've responded too slowly has ill intentions," Health Ministry spokeswoman Mine Tuncel said. Turkey's agriculture minister, Mehdi Eker, insisted there was no delay in responding to the first reports of infected birds on Dec. 15, and said culling of poultry began immediately.
"The fight against this disease had been pursued through a clear and transparent policy," he said.
Questions about whether the government acted swiftly and aggressively enough early in the outbreak lingered on Thursday as officials raced to contain the disease, which Eker said had been confirmed in 11 of Turkey's 81 provinces and was suspected in 14 others.
Health authorities raised the number of people infected with H5N1 from 15 to 18, after it turned up in preliminary tests on two people hospitalized in southeastern Turkey and in a lung of an 11-year-old girl who died last week in the same region. The girl was the sister of two teenagers who became the first fatalities outside East Asia, where the deadly strain has killed 76 people since 2003.
Although three of the 18 people confirmed with the virus have died, several others are in a stable condition or show few signs of illness, suggesting that the virus may not be as deadly as earlier believed. Previously, more than half of those confirmed to have contracted the disease died.
Eight-year-old Sumeyya Mamuk, who became infected with bird flu after comforting, hugging and kissing dying chickens, was released from a hospital in the eastern city of Van on Thursday and returned to her family. Her doctors said she was in good condition.
Health Minister Recep Akdag said he believed Turkey soon would overcome the outbreak. The WHO has stressed that so far, there have been no cases involving person-to-person infection.
"The EU and the world will see Turkey put its signature on a great success," Akdag said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was