Covid-19 in Turkey: Health Minister warns of 'exacerbation' as 13,000 to take part in vaccine trial

Click to read the article in Turkish

Turkey is experiencing an "exacerbation of the coronavirus pandemic," Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca has warned during a visit to the western İzmir province, which has recently seen a sharp increase in new cases.

While new cases have been increasing countrywide, it is not the same in all parts of the country, according to the minister.

Compared to the previous month, the number of cases increased by 42 percent, Koca noted. However, he added, this increase was reduced to 10 percent after "quick and effective measures."

"We expect a more stable period after a week or ten days and then a decline. Another indicator that makes us happy is that the rate of pneumonia in İzmir has dropped from 8.2 percent to 4.9 percent recently. In other words, a 40 percent decrease was achieved. I would like to say that we have entered a stable period in this sense in hospital admissions," said Koca.

"Throughout Turkey, the scanning of contacts, or contact tracing, is done within 15 hours. This is currently 19 hours for İzmir. We first plan to reduce this to the average time in Turkey, and then to 12 hours," he added.

Vaccine trials

Some 13,000 candidates in Turkey will take part in Phase 3 trials for a novel coronavirus vaccine, with 1,200 of these to be healthcare workers.

Mehmet Cahit Güran, the President of Hacettepe University in the capital Ankara, along with experts on infectious disease Serhat Ünal and Murat Akova, told reporters that the first vaccine, produced by the China-bases Sinovac firm, was held on Wednesday (September 16).

"We anticipate that these trials will bring positive results for Turkey and the world," Guran said, adding that there are currently nine different vaccine studies in Phase 3 trials.

Subjects will be under observation for seven months, Akova said, mentioning that volunteers would be selected among the 18-60 age group.

He noted that a total of 10,000 people were vaccinated in Brazil and Indonesia and that there had been no side effects. (RT/VK)