President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s refusal to impose a full lockdown to keep the economy afloat is drawing criticism.
Erdogan has imposed a series of tough measures, with gatherings banned, restrictions on intercity trips, and the obligation to wear masks almost anywhere, but thus far resisted calls for a complete confinement.
With 34,109 cases and 725 deaths, according to official figures published on Tuesday, Turkey is the ninth country in the world most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
What’s alarming is the fast spread of the disease in Turkey, which reported its first official case on March 11. The number of cases is doubling in every few days: From 7,400 on March 28, it reached 15,000 on April 1 and exceeded 30,000 on Monday, according to official figures.
As the number of victims soars, there have been increasing calls on the government to impose a complete confinement like in Italy or France.
“Everyone absolutely has to stay at home, it must be made compulsory,” a doctor who treats infected patients under intensive care at an Istanbul hospital stated.
“We are receiving more and more patients every day. We will soon reach the limits of our capacity.”
The opposition parties, the country’s main medical association TTB and unions have also urged the government to take tougher measures to deter people from going out.
“It will be impossible to control this pandemic if millions of people … go out to work,” the president of the Turkish Doctors’ Union (TTB), Sinan Adiyaman, told the Turkish media this week.
In an interview last week, the opposition mayor of Istanbul called for a confinement in the country’s economic capital where more than half of the COVID-19 cases have been recorded.
“Even if 15 percent of the population goes out, we quickly reach two million people … This has the potential to increase the threat.”
