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The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) Central Council has released a written statement regarding the increase in the number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Turkey amid the reopening.
"Deliberately managing the perception rather than the pandemic and causing more than 150 thousand additional deaths by failing to fulfil their obligations, the government and the Ministry of Health have caused the country to be faced with a new escalation," the TTB has said.
Noting that the number of cases started to increase 10 days after the opening on July 1, the TTB has raised concerns that the number of cases has increased by 39 percent, that of deaths has increased by 26 percent and the number of active cases has increased by 28 percent in the last week, adding that the rate of tests turning out to be positive has also risen.
At this point, the TTB has also warned that while the vaccination should have gained pace, the vaccination efforts are now slowing down.
According to the data shared by the Association, while nearly 1.2 million first doses were administered before, the number of people given the first doses dropped as low as 85 thousand on July 22.
The data on the COVID-19 vaccination shared on July 22 has reportedly shown that the 7-day average numbers of 1st, 2nd and 3rd doses and the number of total doses keep on decreasing in the meantime. That is, while the average number of vaccine doses administered in a day was near 1.2 million on a weekly basis, this average number has dropped to 480 thousand.
Referring to the tourism destinations, the TTB has warned that the number of COVID-19 cases, as a result of the Delta variant, has been increasing in the provinces with low vaccination rates and in tourism destinations.
According to the TTB, as of July 24, 26.8 percent of the population have so far been vaccinated with both doses. The Association has underlined that in order for mass immunization to be realized, 85 percent of the population must be vaccinated, especially in the face of the Delta.
'Ministry has fallen short of vaccination'Speaking to Cumhuriyet newspaper, TTB Second Chair Assoc. Prof. Ali İhsan Ökten has recalled that the number of cases is nearing 17 thousand in Turkey, saying, "We were expecting a 4th rise in fall; but as the things stand, it will not be that far in the future." According to the physician, Turkey may see a peak towards the end of this summer. Noting that struggling against the pandemic is not possible with the tweets posted by Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca, Ökten has demanded that ads be put on about the importance of using masks and the citizens be offered infomation aabout the details of vaccines' effects in the face of the COVID-19. He has also said that the Ministry has fallen short of providing adequate vaccination: "Vaccination rate is very low, especially in the east. The state must go to people in person, if needs be. There must be explanations in the mother language, if necessart. In addition to this, information about the number of patients and inpatients among the vaccinated people will be very effective. This data will persuade people to be vaccinated." Minister tweets call for vaccinationIn fact, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has recently shared a message on Twitter, announcing that Adıyaman and Maraş provinces are now categorized as high risk provinces (orange), rather than very high risk provinces (red), as was the case a short while ago. "Let's minimize the risk by being vaccinated," the Minister has tweeted. |
'Government has caused complacency'
At this point, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) Central Council has recalled that both the association and the specialization associations warned the authorities that creating a perception of 'The outbreak is over' would lead to very serious consequences.
The Association has accused the government and the Health Ministry of leading to complacency in society in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic with their statements suggesting the lifting of mask rules as well as their failure to introduce quarantine for the passengers from Delta-intensive countries and their decision to loosen the restrictions on weddings, etc.
According to the TTB, the Health Ministry has failed to vaccinate the society in an effective manner and rendered the contact tracing efforts nonfunctional, especially by turning them into the distribution of favipiravir, which is globally found controversial as in the case of hydroxychloroquine.
"Managing an outbreak does not mean distributing medicine whose ineffectiveness has been proven or whose effectiveness is unknown," the TTB has noted, underlining the necessity of reintroducing functional contact tracing efforts and making tests more widespread.
Turkey ranks 97th out of 100 in transparency
Referring to the Britain-based data company Total Analysis' "COVID-19 Data Transparency Index," the TTB has reminded the public that Turkey has ranked 97th out of 100 countries in terms of transparency.
Protesting the government's stance of pandemic management in a way far from being transparent and feeding on uncertainty, the TTB has called on the Health Ministry to abandon this attitude.
It has also urged the Ministry to address vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccination not as an individual freedom, but as a matter of public health.
Concluding the statement, the Association has also listed its recommendations, including the vaccination of the citizens aged 12 and over. (KÖ/AS/SD)
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