Medical organizations urge lockdown, transparency as pandemic 'gets out of control'

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Turkey needs a full lockdown of two to four weeks to slow down the spread of the coronavirus outbreak as it is "out of control" now, especially in İstanbul, according to the Turkish Thoracic Society.

Social mobility must be restricted and the reopening of schools must be postponed, it said in a monthly report, noting that the situation in the country is now worse than the first peak period of the outbreak in April and May.

Turkey confirmed its first coronavirus case on March 11.

"Schools have been opened, and it is considered to open the grades that have not been opened. The number of cases is increasing especially in the 5-14 age group, and it is known that severe cases increase and deaths are seen in all age groups. It also shouldn't be forgotten that children are contagious," said the Society.

"Health precedes economic concerns. People who are ill lose ther jobs anyway. Social mobility restriction should be integrated with social state practices that will prevent loss of jobs and income.

"Based on the observations of the field, we are concerned about a large number of total cases. We are of the opinion that the Ministry of Health's disclosure of the total number of cases transparently is necessary in terms of encouraging people to comply with measures, among many other things."

TTB: Daily cases in İstanbul is around 10,000

The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) also noted the lack of transparency of the ministry figures and shared the number of cases it was able to find in 23 out of 81 provinces of the country.

Accordingly, İstanbul, the largest and the most affected city from the pandemic, has about 10,000 daily cases and the number of daily cases in Ankara, the capital and the second-largest city of the country, is about 4,000.

The total number of cases with a positive PCR test in 23 provinces is over 20,000, according to the TTB report. The people without a positive PCT test but receive Covid-19 treatment based on clinical findings are not included in these numbers, said the TTB.

The Ministry of Health doesn't include asymptomatic cases in its daily count and announces the number of what it calls "patients" instead, Minister Fahrettin Koca admitted on September 30 following the leak of a document.

The number of deaths is also higher than what the ministry announces, said the TTB.

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However, even with the current official numbers, the country might need a lockdown, it noted, citing WHO recommendations.

The TTB also presented a seven-article law proposal about health workers' rights, saying that Covid-19 must be recognized as an occupational disease. (DŞ/AS/VK)