İstanbul Mayor insists the city needs a full lockdown as Covid-19 deaths not decreasing

Photo: Ekrem İmamoğlu/Twitter

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İstanbul Mayor has again suggested a full lockdown of two to three weeks to contain the spread of coronavirus in the city as the number of daily deaths has not decreased despite the new restrictions.

The government introduced several measures on November 20 and 25, imposing weeknight and weekend curfews and restricting cafes and restaurants to delivery service.

"Unfortunately, there has not been a slowdown in İstanbul," İmamoğlu told reporters at the commemoration of a doctor who died of Covid-19. Ümit Erdem, who worked at a medical center run by the municipality, lost his life on December 4.

As the Ministry of Health figures for the pandemic have been disputed, the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality has been announcing the number of deaths caused by "an infectious disease" in the city on a daily basis.

The numbers announced by the municipality have been similar to the ministry's death toll for the entire country.

"In 10 metropolitan municipalities alone, there are three to four times more deaths than announced," said İmamoğlu.

"What could be my problem? Can anything be more difficult than a mayor saying 'Let's close down?' It's a difficult thing for a mayor," İmamoğlu said, adding that a full lockdown must be implemented despite its difficulty.

"To reduce contagion, we need to make the people have a rest for three weeks," he remarked and added: "They should take measures. I beg them, they should take measures. Let's give it everything for two to three weeks."

Prof. Pınar Saip, the chair of the İstanbul Medical Chamber, also said a full lockdown is needed to slow down the outbreak.

"Unfortunately, the necessary measures have not been taken since the start of September and many of our citizens have unnecessarily died of a preventable disease," she remarked.

"Since the beginning of the outbreak, we have been calling on the government, which has not been able to manage the outbreak properly by doing many tests or by publishing data transparently, to manage the outbreak, not the perception," said Saip. (EMK/VK)