Falling virus trend and easing restrictions .. Has Turkey controlled Corona?

Zaher Albik-Ankara

Since Monday, Turkey began easing restrictions to curb the spread of the emerging coronavirus (Covid-19), and gradually returning to normalcy.

The new decisions - to be implemented for a period of 45 days - include the opening of shopping centers, shops, and barber and beauty salons again, but with specific conditions to ensure that the rules of hygiene and social separation are not violated.

In the context of easing restrictions, the Turkish government also decided to allow the elderly (over 65) and those under the age of 20 who were imposed a curfew for weeks, to go out into the street on one of the days of the general curfew.

It also allowed the establishment of weddings and weddings. In this regard, the head of the Turkish Trade and Craftsmen Association, Pendoy Balandukan, recommended that these celebrations take place in the open house and rural gardens.

Entry and exit restrictions were lifted from seven states: Antalya, Eden, Erzurum, Hatay, Malatya, Mersin and Mughal.

In this context, Turkish Health Minister Fakhreddin Kocaeli said that the number of deaths due to the Corona virus has been decreasing over the past period, indicating in his Twitter tweet that the number of people in intensive care and who are connected to respirators are also declining.

The Minister of Health announced earlier that his country has passed the first stage of fighting the virus, saying that the government is controlling the course of the pandemic in the country.

Yesterday, Turkish Ministry of Health data showed that 1114 new injuries were recorded, the lowest since before the peak phase, and with 3.4% for exams, the lowest rate ever.

The same data indicated that 50 new deaths were recorded, bringing the number of deaths to 3,841, or 3.8%, and 5,119 people recovered, bringing the total number of people recovered to about 100,000, or about 70% of the total patients.

For his part, a gradual return , Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country has maintained a low mortality rate and limited the rapid spread of the virus by developing special models for monitoring infections and treating people with corona, noting that "the number of people recovering from Corona is increasing exponentially" compared to new infections.

Erdogan noted that the government will implement a restriction of the movement between May 16 and May 19 as part of anti-Corona measures.

For his part, Fakhruddin Alton, head of the Communication Department in the Turkish presidency, expressed his regret at the international media’s neglect of his country's successes in the effective struggle it is fighting against the pandemic, indicating that his country pursued a communication strategy based on transparency in the fight against Corona.

A source in the Turkish Presidential Communication Department told Al-Jazeera Net that the president's announcement of a new curfew came due to fear that citizens and residents of Turkey understand the steps for a gradual return to normalcy that things will return exactly as they were before March 10, and thus people return to their normal lives, which leads to the spread The virus again.

The source said that the new decisions are a first step in the process of gradually ending the restrictions, which are expected to continue throughout the months of May, June and July, expecting to break the easing process by imposing a curfew during the Eid days only.

The source described the rapid spread of the virus earlier, as it is natural that Turkey is a country with millions of people, but the most important thing is that the government can control the epidemic.

However, opponents said that the new decisions to ease restrictions come amid slacking precautionary measures and major fears of a second wave of the virus, as "President Erdogan fears for the economy more than the lives of citizens," as they claimed.

Attention and caution
One of the Turkish doctors described the first days of easing the restrictions in a Facebook post, saying, "Today I went to my shift in the hospital at noon, and the road was the same as the crowding of normal days before Corona at the height of the morning. Most people in Istanbul have returned to a normal life, and at least they are Outside the houses, we will wait a few days to 14 days to monitor the bounces on Corona's statistics. "

"We have 17 projects for the vaccine and medicines for Corona, which are working on 260 researchers from 46 institutions, and regarding treatment, we will give the public opinion a good news next month," said the head of the Turkish Scientific Research Foundation Tobitak.

As for the member of the Turkish Science Council, Albay Azab, it is very difficult to determine the degree of easing procedures, and they must be considered very well and with caution through analyzing the data and setting the correct forecasts.

"The distance rules will continue in cafes and restaurants, and seats will be raised in cinemas, people will not sit next to each other, and middle seats will be raised on planes."

There is no contradiction.
In the context, Saeed Al-Hajj, the Turkish doctor and researcher denied that there was a contradiction between the mitigation measures taken by the government and the announcement of a four-day curfew, because the mitigating measures that were inspired by the epidemic was contained are always associated with safety measures, which is an attempt to control the epidemic more .

Al-Hajj told Al-Jazeera Net, "It cannot be said that any country in the world has completely controlled the epidemic, but Turkey has managed to limit the speed of its spread and has passed the peak phase towards decreasing and gradual decline in the numbers of injuries and deaths."

He pointed out that the Turkish achievement is not limited to containing the epidemic, but that the retreat occurred after it reached a peak with fewer human losses compared to other countries in Europe, and this is due to the population structure and the early measures it took, its establishment of the scientific body early, and the stopping of trips with the affected countries, and controlling the borders Etc.

In his explanation of the opposition’s accusations that the economy is more important to Erdogan's health than citizens, the researcher Al-Hajj stated that Ankara is trying to achieve a kind of balance by adopting precautionary measures that slow down the spread of the disease and at the same time not stop the wheel of the economy completely.

He considered that the epidemic placed economic burdens on the state to cover the gaps in the epidemic and support the affected segments, so I followed the balance in mitigation decisions, knowing that the mitigation measures did not come at the height of the epidemic, but after the decline in the numbers of deaths.