Turkey's latest official recovery figure at record high as the gov’t prepares to loosen measures - blog

Turkey’s latest COVID-19 recovery figure is the highest to date since the first confirmed coronavirus case on March 11, said Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Tuesday, as the country plans to reopen its burdened economy through easing infection-preventing measures.

Since Monday evening, 5,018 patients with the coronavirus have been discharged, which tallies the recovery total to 38,809, according to data from Koca’s daily Twitter briefing.

“The number of new cases is on projected course,” the minister said, who highlighted Turkey’s total testing count will soon exceed one million, which was at 948,115, on Tuesday.

Ninety-two new deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, raising the country’s official death toll to 2,992.

The latest Health Ministry data came after one of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s closest advisers, the Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said the Turkish government’s “response to the coronavirus crisis has simply been exemplary” because the president directed it to “act in the must humanitarian way possible regardless of the costs.”

Altun was referring to the tens of thousands of Turkish citizens flown home in time for the holy month of Ramadan and sending medical aid to some 57 countries.

The government had come under fire for a hesitant initial response to COVID-19 that allowed thousands of pilgrims to return from Saudi Arabia unchecked as the pandemic spread around the world. By April, Turkey was among the countries with the sharpest rise in new infections. It is currently the country with the seventh highest total number of infections.

With the figures looking promising, the government is preparing to gradually allow businesses to reopen in May, the Daily Sabah reported.

Barbers and hairdressers could be among the first to open and will be allowed to serve two customers per hour, the newspaper said. Shopping malls and restaurants may open by mid-May and will operate with social distancing measures. Hotels will begin opening after the Eid al-Fitr holiday in late May and will take reservations for 50 percent of their capacity.

Though the news was welcome for businesses and employees who have been hit hard by the coronavirus, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has warned that complacency could lead to a second wave of coronavirus infections.

The party’s warning echoed that of Dr. Tevfik Özlü, a member of the scientific committee that is advising the Health Ministry on the pandemic, who said the time was not yet right to loosen restrictions.

(Times Turkish time GMT+3)

23:40 - Istanbul’s 2020 mortality rate nearly 50 percent higher than last three years, Imamoğlu says

There is an apparent increase in daily number of deaths in Istanbul, T24 reported, quoting Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu as saying.

"Previous years’ daily death figures are on average 30-35 percent less than this year." Imamoglu said, this means on average the number of people died in previous years is about 100 people less than this year.

"When you look at this year's mortality rate and mortality rates of the last 2 to 3 years, there are 30 percent to 35 percent fewer deaths (before 2020)," Imamoğlu said in a live Halk TV broadcast.

He added that death certificates at the Istanbul Cemeteries Department were recorded as “infectious disease” or “natural causes”, and that the department could not find the deaths diagnosed with COVID-19.

22:15 - Turkish Airlines suspends all flights until May 28

Turkish Airlines extended its suspension of domestic and international flights until May 28, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

“In accordance with decisions taken by the official authorities, all flights have been suspended until May 28, 2020, in order to protect public health against the novel coronavirus pandemic,” Turkey’s national carrier said in a statement.

22:05 - No COVID-19 cases reported over last 10 days in Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot gov’t says

No new COVID-19 cases have been reported over the last ten days, Cumhuriyet reported, quoting the Turkish Cypriot’s health minister as saying.

“There have been no positive cases in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus for the past ten days,” Ali Pilli said, adding it did not mean the novel coronavirus has been contained in the island.

17:05 - Some 120 prisoners tested positive for COVID-19, justice minister says

Some 120 inmates in four different prisons were tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Mezopotamya reported, quoting Turkey’s Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül as saying.

The prisoners were taken into hospitals for treatment, Gül said.

15:20 - Millions sign up for government's short working hours support package

Nearly 3.2 million people and some 291,000 companies have signed up to the Turkish government’s aid package that guarantees workers the minimum wage to make up for lost income due to shortened working hours during the coronavirus pandemic, Family, Labour and Social Services Minister Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk said.

14:28 - Hundreds of Russian tourists trapped in Turkey for more than a month

Some 400 Russian tourists are stuck in Turkey and unable to return home because the borders are closed during the coronavirus pandemic, Hürriyet Daily News reported.

The tourists are running out of money after being stuck in the southern province of Antalya since last month without help from the Russian consulate, the outlet said.

13:22 - Turkey sends food aid to Uganda

Turkey’s state-run Cooperation and Coordination Agency sent 1,000 food packages, including flour, beans and sugar, to support Uganda’s stricken economy during the coronavirus pandemic, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Mary Karooro Okurut, the Ugandan minister in charge of general duties, thanked the Turkish ambassador and the agency’s Uganda coordinator for the supplies.

13:08  - Nearly 800 children in Turkish prisons - report

There are still 780 children up to six-years-old with their mothers in Turkish prisons despite the recent programme that aimed to release 90,000 inmates to reduce the risk posed by the coronavirus pandemic, Cumhuriyet reported.

Öztürk Türkdoğan, the head of Turkey’s Human Rights Association, said the number of women in prisons had risen to an unprecedented level, adding that the Justice Ministry had refrained from publishing statistics due to the high numbers.

12:35 - Health Ministry should ease testing criteria and make more tests, professor says

A Turkish professor has called on the government to change its criteria for testing people for the coronavirus as the number of tests carried out falls, Diken reported.

The number of daily tests has gone down as fewer people meet the existing criteria for testing, Dr. Mehmet Ceyhan said.

“But what we need to do is adjust the criteria according to this and try to test many more people. Because at this stage, especially when we’re planning to lift restrictions, testing is our best guarantee,” he said. “If we remain with the same criteria, the number of tests will keep falling with the number of new cases … To prevent this, the Health Ministry should announce new criteria.”

23:35 - Turkey to deliver PPE to United States, says Communications Director Altun

Turkey’s Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said in a tweet that Turkey is sending 500,000 surgical masks to the United States to display solidarity with its NATO ally.

Altun said the shipment will reach the United States tomorrow, which could mean Tuesday or Wednesday. Altun listed other medical equipment included in the shipment as follows:

• 500,000 surgical masks
• 4,000 overalls
• 2,000 litres of disinfectant
• 1,500 goggles
• 400 N95 masks
• 500 face shields

Turkey continues to deliver medical supplies to its friends and allies.

We are proud to announce that 500,000 surgical masks and other PPE will arrive at @Andrews_JBA tomorrow.

We stand in solidarity with the United States, our NATO ally, against COVID-19. https://t.co/zLIvWK2hfu

— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) April 27, 2020

22:30 - Chamber of medicine chairman and secretary detained in southeast Turkey

The chairman and secretary general of the Chamber of Medicine in Turkey’s southeastern Şanlıurfa province, on the border with Syria, were detained over their social media posts, the local branch of Healthcare Workers Union (SES) announced on Monday.

Chairman Ömer Melik and Secretary General Osman Yüksekyayla were referred to court following their statements at the police station, and were later released on parole and a foreign travel ban.

Sendika üyelerimiz ve Urfa Tabip Odası yöneticileri Ömer Melik ve Osman Yüksekyayla arkadaşlarımız adli kontrol ve yurtdışına çıkma yasağı ile serbest bırakıldılar. Salgınla mücadele eden sağlık emekçileri üzerindeki baskılara son verilsin! pic.twitter.com/mXfIHY6MWs

— Ses Riha (@SesRiha) April 27, 2020

21:55 - COVID-19 spread rate triple among Turkish workers, says top union

The percentage of workers testing positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus is three times the percentage for the general population, found a report released on Monday by one of Turkey’s two biggest groups of workers’ unions, Confederation of Progressive Workers’ Unions (DİSK).

The rate of infection for Turkey is 0.013, while the same rate for workers was found to be 0.043, the report said.

DİSK’s report found a faster rate of contagion among works as well, and that workplaces offered insufficient protection.

More than 60,000 DİSK members have been confirmed to be directly affected by the pandemic, while some 34,000 have applied for state aid for employment.

✏️DİSK-AR üçüncü Covid-19 DİSK Raporunu yayımladı.
?İşçiler arasındaki pozitif vaka oranları Türkiye ortalamasının üç katından fazla.?https://t.co/BL1bkm6TJ5@diskinsesi pic.twitter.com/UOeCUj0WB7

— DİSK-AR (@disk_arastirma) April 27, 2020