The battle against coronavirus, aided by vaccinations and tight restrictions, continues to bear fruit for Turkey, with COVID-19 cases declining to 6,609 Tuesday, from more than 50,000 a few months ago.
Figures released by the Health Ministry indicate a significant improvement in the coronavirus crisis between May 7 and June 7. The rate of positive tests on May 7 was eight out of every 100 tests, and this number dropped to around 2 1/2 on June 7. In the same period, the number of severely ill patients decreased to 1,060 from 3,260 and the number of patients from 2,210 to 495.
Professor Mustafa Necmi Ilhan, a member of the Health Ministry’s Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, said what they achieved was “plenty” but the public should know that it was “a hard-earned victory” and “Turkey should not endanger its gains,” highlighting the need for adherence to personal protection measures and getting COVID-19 shots.
The country has so far conducted more than 55 million tests since the pandemic made its foray into the country in March 2020. On May 7, the daily test numbers were more than 251,000, and 20,107 among them were positive – or eight out of every 100 people tested. On June 1, more than 223,000 people were tested, and 7,112 among them tested positive. The number further decreased in the ensuing week.
The number of severely ill patients, a serious burden on the country’s health care system, was 3,260 on May 7, before it dropped to 1,977 on May 21, after which it dropped further to 1,060 on June 7.
Ilhan ties the drop in positive tests to a 17-day total lockdown before and during Ramadan Bayram, also known as Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday known for high mobility of masses traveling to holiday resorts and their hometowns from big cities in the west. He acknowledges that the ongoing inoculation campaign also influenced the decline in cases, but he warned about “active” cases. “We still have to be careful about measures,” he told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Wednesday, referring to adhering to social distancing, wearing protective masks and heeding the hygiene rules.
