Turkey’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic continues, according to an expert, the number of deaths will gradually decrease as cases of coronavirus decrease by the end of the month.
Professor Mustafa Necmi Ilhan, a member of the Health Ministry’s Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, said the number of COVID-19 cases in Istanbul has started to decrease. “I think there may be a downward trend in Anatolia as well. Cases may drop toward the end of this month. I expect the deaths to decrease gradually,” he told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Monday.
Pointing out that the cases in Istanbul have decreased significantly, Ilhan said: “The alpha variant first started in Istanbul. The population is larger, living conditions are more crowded, (the city is) more open to external influences. At the moment, the case numbers in Istanbul have dropped. In Ankara, they are at a certain level, maybe it will come back down soon,” he said.
“About one to two months after the cases drop, we witness that the number of deaths decreases more rapidly. On average, the number of our citizens who usually die is at the level of 250, unfortunately, we saw 300 deaths,” he added.
Stating that citizens who choose not to be vaccinated and not to comply with the rules, thinking that the omicron variant is mild, are mistaken, Ilhan said: “The deceased are mostly over the age of 65, have chronic diseases, are unvaccinated or have not completed their vaccination. If we lived in an unvaccinated society with such high cases, the death toll would have gone even higher.”
“Of course, because the probability of infection increases more, there may be those who are unintentionally infected, those who have a severe illness and those who die. The level of antibody formation is not at the same level for every person, especially when we consider that there are citizens who do not have the third dose. It should be said that the effect (of the vaccine) on people is not the same,” said Ilhan, pointing out that the risk for society increases since the omicron variant is more contagious.
Speaking about the antiviral COVID-19 drug Molnupiravir, now being used for patients over 65 years of age and high-risk people over the age of 18, Ilhan said: “A new drug has come into play in our country. This is a very pleasing development. But let’s say that, beyond getting the coronavirus disease and being treated, it is much more important not to catch the coronavirus at all, and it is very important to be vaccinated in order not to catch it.”
“The fact that a new drug has been developed is really a huge advantage. Thus, I believe that an advantageous situation may arise so that those who contract the infection do not lose their lives and do not become seriously ill,” he added.
