The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Turkey office on Sunday highlighted the country’s good management of the coronavirus pandemic.
Irshad Ali Shaikh, interim director of the WHO Turkey office, had raised concerns about the number of cases in Turkey in a recent interview published Friday by the German Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service. However, WHO Turkey announced on Twitter that the parts of the interview about the latest COVID-19 situation in the country were “unfortunately” misinterpreted by some media outlets.
Sharing the interview on social media, WHO Turkey said, “The situation globally is alarming as cases are increasing, and with the winter, as we go more indoors, cases are only likely to increase.”
Speaking on Turkey’s approach to fighting COVID-19, WHO Turkey underlined that when it comes to the number of cases, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said nothing is shared with anyone on the outside before being shared with the Turkish people first. WHO is asking all member states to report all positive cases, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic. Turkey refrained from sharing the total number of COVID-19 cases for a while, focusing on active, serious cases, but the decision was reversed in November by the Health Ministry.
