Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped up measures to stem a rapidly growing number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey, but his refusal to impose a full lockdown to keep the economy afloat is drawing criticism.
With gatherings banned, restrictions on intercity trips, and the obligation to wear masks almost anywhere, Erdogan has imposed a series of tough measures, but has thus far resisted calls for a complete confinement.
Parliament began on Tuesday debating a government-sponsored bill to release up to one-third of detainees in the country’s overcrowded prisons as a safety measure against the coronavirus outbreak.
Photo: EPA-EFE
With 34,109 cases and 725 deaths, according to official figures published on Tuesday, Turkey is the ninth-most affected country in the world by the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is alarming is the fast spread of the disease in Turkey, which reported its first official case on March 11. The number of cases is doubling in every few days: From 7,400 on March 28, it reached 15,000 on Wednesday last week and exceeded 30,000 on Monday, official figures showed.
The government very quickly took nationwide measures from shutting schools and cultural spaces to suspending flights with the countries hit by the virus.
They have been gradually reinforced with a confinement order for people aged 65 and older, and under the age of 20, and dozens of towns and villages have been quarantined.
On Tuesday, Turkish Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca said in a reassuring tone that the occupancy rate in intensive care units was only about 60 percent, but as the number of victims soars, there have been increasing calls on the government to impose a complete confinement as seen in Italy or France.
“Everyone absolutely has to stay at home, it must be made compulsory,” a doctor who treats infected patients under intensive care at an Istanbul hospital told reporters on condition of anonymity.
“We are receiving more and more patients every day. We will soon reach the limits of our capacity,” the doctor said.
Opposition parties, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and unions have also urged the government to take tougher measures to deter people from going out.
“It will be impossible to control this pandemic if millions of people ... go out to work,” TTB president Sinan Adiyaman, told the Turkish media this week.
In an interview last week, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu called for a confinement in the country’s economic capital where more than half of the COVID-19 cases have been recorded.
“Even if 15 percent of the population goes out, we quickly reach 2 million people... This has the potential to increase the threat,” Imamoglu said.
Erdogan has so far urged Turks to place themselves in “voluntary quarantine” rather than declare a compulsory order for them to stay home, in an attempt not to stop an already fragile economy, which has been in a recovery state after years of crises.
Before any hardening of the measures, many Turks have already taken their own precautions.
Most of Istanbul’s usually busy arteries, including the pedestrian Istiklal Street, are almost completely deserted.
Many Turks no longer set foot outside — some of them have returned to the age-old tradition of lowering baskets through their window for their groceries, while some others rely on very efficient delivery services.
The doctor hailed residents’ common sense and “good measures” taken by the government, which has ramped up tests to more than 200,000.
However, he said: “If the number of cases keeps increasing at this pace, the result will be the same as elsewhere: many losses of lives. We have already lost a lot of time.”
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