İstanbul Medical Chamber insists Turkey needs a full lockdown

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Turkey needs a full lockdown of two to four weeks to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the İstanbul Medical Chamber said yesterday (December 1).

Social mobility should be restricted and all non-vital production and services must be halted, the chamber said in its monthly report.

The government should also financially support people who lost their income during lockdowns and support the poor, it said.

On November 11, the chamber called for an urgent lockdown in İstanbul, the country's largest and the most affected city by the pandemic.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced a number of measures Monday, including weeknight curfews and full lockdowns on weekends while exempting production, supply, logistics, health and agriculture sectors from the measures.

The Ministry of Health has reported record-high numbers of daily fatalities for eight days in a row and daily cases have increased to about 30,000, making Turkey one of the most affected countries in the world.

As the ministry figures have often been disputed by medical organizations, the medical chamber said about 35,000 people have died in the country since the start of the epidemic whereas the official toll stands at 13,936.

Also criticizing Erdoğan for his remarks that the Ministry of Health's Scientific Advisory Board was responsible for measures, the chamber the government, which it accused of trying to make political gains from the pandemic, has the authority and the responsibility regarding the issue.

Also noting that many people had been delaying treatment for non-Covid issues, the chamber said the government should determine "non-pandemic" hospitals and people's needs for treatment should be met. (DŞ/VK)