Turkey has started taking immediate steps on Thursday to contain the spread of coronavirus, following the announcement of the country’s first coronavirus case on Wednesday.
Precautionary measures against the epidemic include suspending education at primary and secondary schools, while the suspension will be for three weeks at universities, both starting as of next Monday.
Speaking to reporters at a press briefing following a five-hour meeting of ministers at the presidential complex, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that the ministry of education was also working on distance learning program for primary and secondary school students to be initiated through an online platform and television for another week as of March 23.
Ramping up the measures, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has decided that all sports events will be played without spectators until the end of next month.
Public servants will be allowed traveling abroad only under special circumstances, according to the measures set by the cabinet chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Early on Wednesday, Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca confirmed the country’s first coronavirus case, with a Turkish man having allegedly contracted the virus in Europe.
Answering a question regarding the infected man, the spokesman said the patient’s condition was stable. His inner circle has also been quarantined and were reported to be healthy as well.
Official presidential trips overseas have also been postponed until further notice, Erdogan’s aide added.
Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced that they had canceled leave for all military personnel and students indefinitely, also suspending family participation at oath-taking ceremonies.
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) has also canceled all cultural and educational events at theatres, museums, and training centers.
Besides the measures taken by authorities, Kalin called on the public to follow the instructions by the authorities against the outbreak.
“As stated previously by our health minister, it is of utmost importance that our citizens coming from abroad should be certainly undergoing their medical examinations and quarantine themselves for 14 days,” the spokesperson warned.
The Turkish public has been reportedly stockpiling food and supplies, such as hygiene products, pasta, and toilet paper, emptying supermarket shelves in case of having to self-isolate or quarantine since the declaration of the first coronavirus case in the country.
“Let us stand up [against the epidemic]. The effect of the virus decreases in the summer. This is the foresight of our science council. The disease is mainly a winter infection. [Our] life returns to normal most probably in two months, if we take precautions [and] curb the spread [of it],” the health minister tweeted on Thursday.
2 AY DİRENELİM. YAZIN VİRÜSÜN ETKİSİ AZALIYOR. Bilim Kurulumuzun öngörüsü bu yöndedir. Bu hastalık daha çok bir kış enfeksiyonu. Tedbir alırsak, yayılmayı önlersek, büyük olasılıkla, 2 ayda hayat normale döner. pic.twitter.com/6ewRJ9arpd
— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) March 12, 2020
Hours after the first case announcement, Turkey’s president appeared on Wednesday in a parliamentary speech with an aide checking the audience through a mobile thermal camera for fever.
While addressing the AKP members, Erdogan said that all measures were in place against the epidemic.
The AKP politicians and pro-government media outlets have repeatedly reiterated Turkey’s success in containment of the spread of the virus so far.
However, on the other end, some critics have been skeptical of information about any outbreak within the country be suppressed by the government in a bid to keep the fragile economic recovery on track.
There are reportedly investigations launched into social media users who posted virus-related messages, questioning governmental remarks on the pandemic.
Despite being a major tourist destination and neighboring the badly hit Iran, the lack of officially identified cases until Wednesday has also raised concerns among many.
Further, Prof Pinar Saip, the head of the Istanbul Medical Chamber (ITO), told Voice of America (VOA) Turkish on Thursday that the confirmation of coronavirus within the country is because testing has not been widely carried out by the medical authorities.
The public is suspicious about the official confirmation of the virus by the government, the ITO head claimed.
“I believe that [the AKP government] should be in contact with us, as the ITO and the Turkish Medical Association (TBB). There are lots of questions posed to us by the public [regarding the outbreak] as we can approach [the incidents] independently [rather than politically],” Saip said.
The TBB, Turkey’s independent medical and health professional association, is known for its stance against the Erdogan regime.
The illness (Covid-19), which has proven fatal in about 1 to 2 percent of patients, has currently infected more than 125,000 people in the world, killing over 4,614, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
International authorities, including the International Organization for Migration (IOM), are concerned about possible catastrophic effects of Covid-19 if it reaches vulnerable refugee populations in the Middle East, including Turkey, the Guardian said on Thursday.
Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees, around 4.1 million, worldwide, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Thousands of refugees and migrants have gathered in the Turkish-Greek border area, in cold and dire conditions in the no-man’s land between the two countries.
This was after Ankara said last month that it would not stop them from reaching Europe, a move widely criticized by the European Union (EU) for putting lives at risk in an attempt to get international support for Turkey’s Syrian policies.
World Health Organization calls coronavirus outbreak ‘pandemic’ for first time
The post Turkey takes stricter measures against coronavirus after first case appeared first on IPA NEWS.
from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2020/03/13/turkey-takes-stricter-measures-against-coronavirus-after-first-case/
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