Turkey’s war against corona epidemic is stalling, with negative reverberations on politics and the economy. President Erdogan admitted a second time on Friday that recent rise in cases have been “disconcerting”, warning the citizens to remain vigilant. Turkey reported 1.396 new cases and 19 deaths on the day.
Turkey’s virus cases in limbo as careless citizens risk recovery progress
SABAH Daily, a pro-government newspaper also admitted to the stalemate: June 1 was a good day for Turkish citizens. The government had just launched the biggest rollback of coronavirus restrictions, ending weekend curfews and travel restrictions for the worst-hit 15 provinces, while cafes, restaurants and other public places were allowed to open.
The following day, the country recorded its lowest daily new coronavirus infections in more than two months. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca had already declared the COVID-19 outbreak under control, and for a brief moment, it seemed life would actually return to normal – despite warnings from authorities that it wouldn’t happen unless a drug or a vaccine were found.
And they were right.
On June 15, nearly two weeks after recording its lowest numbers, Turkey witnessed a dramatic surge in new cases, reporting two times more compared with the 786 on June 2.
The dramatic surge in new cases came exactly 14 days after the restrictions were lifted, coinciding with the two-week incubation period for the virus pointed out by many experts.
So, what happened? How did Turkey suddenly start discussing a potential second wave of infections instead of nearing to the end of the outbreak?
While it is impossible to pinpoint the exact reasons behind the surge, especially during an ongoing pandemic, most experts believe the sudden easing of restrictions combined with some people’s insistence on not following the rules created the perfect environment for the virus to make a comeback.
Before and after restrictions were lifted, Koca and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly warned citizens that the move did not mean life was returning to normal. Both said failure to follow rules and precautions would lead to an increase in infections, which would also mean the restrictions would be reimplemented.
While the warnings were heard by many, some turned a deaf ear to them.
Within days of the lifting of restrictions, social media and news outlets were awash with scenes of people gathering in large crowds, with many of them not wearing a mask and standing dangerously close to each other.
Virus limbo
While the initial spike and the subsequent increases were worrying, the spike in new infections had appeared to stop for the time being, only to show signs of another increase on Wednesday, indicating that Turkey has become stuck in a coronavirus limbo, with case numbers seesawing.
After reporting 1,592 daily new infections on June 15, Turkey recorded declining numbers, with daily cases dropping to as low as 1,192 on June 21. But the Health Ministry reported another surge in new cases on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with 1,492 and 1,458, and 1.396 new patients, respectively.
The seesawing numbers led many to wonder if the figures were early indicators of a second wave, but the health minister was crystal clear when he said the situation was not that bad – yet.
“We can definitely say we are not experiencing a second wave. What we are going through is the aftereffects of the first wave. We are observing local fluctuations,” Koca said, adding that Turkey was still in the first wave of the outbreak.
The jump in new cases will not lead to new lockdowns, but local quarantines are cropping up across the country, in particular in Eastern and Southeastern provinces. Eye witnesses report very little domestic tourism activity at the Mediterranean coast, while proliferating news about a second wave could reduce consumer spending, warn experts.
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