Lifting COVID-19 restrictions is 'a harbinger of more deaths' in Turkey

* Photo: Aytuğ Can Sencar - Ankara / AA

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The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) Central Council and the TTB Pandemic Working Group held a press conference about the new pandemic decisions unveiled by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.

Speaking at the online press conference today (March 3), Prof. Esin Davutoğlu Şenol commented on the decisions to lift the outdoor mask mandate and contact tracing code requirements and said that they "mean a heavy defeat and giving up" in the current conditions.

Listing a series of problems within this context such as the death of nearly 300 thousand people in 2 years, economic collapse, suicidal tendencies of individuals left unprotected, periods without education and the population aged 65 and over being left unprotected, Davutoğlu Şenol underlined that vulnerable groups will face a heavy economic and social price.

'Virus granted the right of free movement'

Güçlü Yaman from the TTB Pandemic Group criticized that these decisions have been adopted amid high numbers of deaths and low rates of vaccination. Prof. Oğuz Kılınç also defined the Health Ministry's decisions as granting "the virus the right to free movement."

Dr. Levent Akyıldız listed a series of problems such as the huge workload faced by healthcare workers, the absence of ventilation inspection in closed places and the lack of a powerful encouragement for vaccination. 

Dr. Meltem Günbeği from the TTB Central Council emphasized that the Ministry's decisions have once again demonstrated how rightful the struggle for rights waged against the current health policies is.

TTB expresses concern about decisions

The press statement of the TTB was read out by TTB Central Council Chair Prof. Şebnem Korur Fincancı. She said, "We receive the decisions unveiled by the Health Minister with concern for public health."

Arrangements that are devoid of scientific grounds and do not comply with the reality of the outbreak in our country are a new step of the attitude that centers on perception management. This step is a continuation of political power holders' policies that have been ignoring public health, but prioritizing economic concerns since the outbreak of the pandemic.

7,029 people died last month

TTB Chair Şebnem Korur Fincancı raised concerns that even according to official data, 7,029 people lost their lives due to COVID-19 in Turkey last month, which means that 251 people on average died a day.

"While February was the fifth worst month of the 24-month pandemic period in terms of the number of deaths, the number of deaths in the first two months of 2022 accounted for 13 percent of all deaths during the pandemic for 24 months," added Korur Fincancı, noting that the number of deaths in the last 6 months accounted for 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths so far.

Vaccination on the decrease

At this point, the TTB raised concerns over the decreasing number of vaccinations: "Similarly, we see the lowest numbers of daily vaccination in this process; a governance that is deprived of necessary measures and determination to encourage vaccination is on duty."

Underlining that the rate of completed vaccination is still far away from the desired level of social immunization, the TTB said, "Scientific data shows that mask, distance and ventilation are still of critical importance."

Who will detect 'good ventilation'?

Reading the TTB statement further, TTB Chair Korur Fincancı noted that the statement of the Health Ministry does not clarify the ways in which "good ventilated environments" can be inspected.

Accordingly, warning citizens that the outbreak has not been sufficiently taken under control, the TTB has called on everyone to get fully vaccinated, pay particular attention to mask, distance and ventilation and raise their demands for steps to be taken in line with science." (AS/SD)