COVID-19 in İstanbul: 'It is time for urgent lockdown'

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - Archive

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The İstanbul Medical Chamber released a statement about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic yesterday (November 10).

The statement of the chamber has emphasized that the real number of COVID-19 deaths in Turkey is almost three times higher than the numbers announced by the Health Ministry on a daily basis.

Referring to the official number of fatalities which currently stands at 11,059, the chamber has referred to a statement by the Turkish Medical Association (TTB). In the related statement, the Association compared the number of deaths registered in 11 provinces of Turkey (36.5 percent of the population) from January 1 to August 31, 2020 and the official statistics released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) for the years 2015-2019.

Based on this calculation, the TTB has concluded that these 11 provinces saw 10,950 more deaths in the first eight months of 2020 when compared to the average of the 2015-2019 period.

The İstanbul Medical Chamber has also referred to the "COVID-19 Weekly Situation Report" of the Ministry of Health and the online platform of the Science Academy, sarkac.org. While the former indicated the COVID-19 death toll in İstanbul as 3,253 as of October 25, a report published on sarkac.org based on the data of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality showed that 8,456 additional deaths occurred in İstanbul from March 12 to November 4, 2020 when compared to the 2015-2019 averages.

Problems in hospitals in İstanbul

Calling on the authorities to "urgently impose a lockdown in İstanbul," the chamber has also listed the current problems in İstanbul's hospitals:

• Ambulances fall short of carrying COVID-19 patients; patients are kept waiting on stretchers for hours.
• The available services fall short of meeting the needs; new COVID-19 services are opened every day.
• Several patients who have to be hospitalized are held in emergency services due to lack of beds. Several patients who have to be treated in intensive care units are kept waiting in emergency services or other services until there is a "vacancy."
• Not only COVID-19 patients, but other patients cannot get healthcare services, either, due to lack of services, beds and intensive care units.
• As the public hospitals cannot meet the need, private hospitals have also started treating COVID-19 patients, but they do it for a fee.
• As District Health Directorates have been entirely responsible for contact tracing, the teams can deal with only a few case.

New restrictions in Ankara and İstanbul

Shortly after this statement was released by the İstanbul Medical Chamber, the Governor's Offices of İstanbul and Ankara imposed new novel coronavirus (COVID-19) measures amid an increasing number of cases.

CLICK - New COVID-19 restrictions in İstanbul, Ankara

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), residents who are 65 and older in the capital city of Ankara and İstanbul, the most populous city of Turkey, have been restricted from leaving their homes except for certain hours. They are now allowed outside between 10 a.m. (0700GMT) and 4 p.m. (1300GMT) by keeping social distance and wearing masks.

An exception has been made for public servants and those who are in certain professions, including doctors, healthcare workers, pharmacists, elected public officials, social workers and others. Business owners, traders, industrialists, farmers, those who are self-employed and the heads of professional associations have been also exempted from restrictions.

Restrictions in İstanbul will begin on Thursday (November 12). (EKN/SD)