‘Without strict measures in place, COVID-19 outbreak may intensify again’

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - Archive

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The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) held an online press conference yesterday (April 13) and shared their findings and observations on the second year of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The conference was attended by several TTB physicians, including TTB Central Council Chair Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Secretary General Vedat Bulut and Public Health Branch and Pandemic Working Group members.

Taking the floor at the press conference, Prof. Şebnem Korur Fincancı underlined that the official data does not reflect the truth and raised concerns that the Ministry of Health has been hiding the data.

She has noted that over 500 healthcare workers have lost their lives during the pandemic; 200 of them were physicians.

Emphasis on 'keeping measures strict'

Prof. Mehmet Zencir, speaking afterwards, indicated that though restrictions have been lifted, measures should be kept strict. The physician warned that "without strict measures, the outbreak may intensify again." He said, "Turkey has eased the measures, but it may cause deaths."

Pulmonologist Prof. Levent Akyıldız also underlined that the past data must be clearly announced to prognose the upcoming period.

'They run the risk of deaths'

Taking the floor afterwards, Prof. Esin Davutoğlu Şenol noted that the pace of vaccination has slowed down across the world and said that the states risk some deaths by not vaccinating certain groups.

Prof. Nasır Nesanır raised concerns that the Ministry of Health of Turkey distributed some useless medication to people even though there was no scientific data. "Other preventive healthcare systems have also been affected by the wrong policies of the Ministry," he briefly added.

'The unvaccinated are still at risk'

Prof. Oğuz Kılınç, in his speech at the conference, stressed that the pandemic will continue for a long period of time for some groups, adding that the pandemic will be in place for the ones who have problems with accessing healthcare, the elderly and unvaccinated people.

He further noted that when the restrictions were eased, the infection spread to society and kept on causing the deaths of the groups at risk. Emphasizing that measures should be in place again to prevent deaths, Kılınç argued that there will be an increase in deaths without measures.

'Three times more deaths than official figures'

According to the TTB Pandemic Working Group member Güçlü Yaman, the number of deaths during the pandemic has been at least three times the official data. Noting that vaccination rates are very low in Turkey, he said that only 20-25 percent have been fully vaccinated.

Academic Özgür Müftüoğlu, on the other hand, said that the government became more authoritarian and caused considerable changes in the working life during the pandemic. Noting that some segments of the society got richer while others got poorer in this process, Müftüoğlu said, "This was the preference of the political power holders." (RT/SD)