ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s main medical agreement and the main opposition party on Thursday criticized a government resolution by President Tayyip Erdogan to publicly reveal new cases of coronavirus if the patient has symptoms.
Members of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and the Republican People’s Party (CHP) said that politics, through the Minister of Health on Wednesday night, hides the true scale of the pandemic and aims to keep the economy moving.
At a press conference Wednesday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca gave the impression that the government had not published the total number of positive COVID-19 cases when he said he only counted those who were symptomatic.
The TTB, which has been cautious against under-notification through the government for months, said its doubts were confirmed. “He has not carried out a transparent process. You hid the truth. It didn’t stop the pandemic from spreading,” he said, on Twitter.
After a summer low, official daily instances of coronavirus in Turkey have increased in recent months to more than 1,700, matching may degrees when a partial blockade occurred. The count shows that instances have been reduced in recent days to about 1,400, with 60 to 70 deaths.
As of July 29, the Ministry of Health began publishing the number of new daily “patients” – which Minister Koca explained as symptomatic – that the “cases” that he says show the total number of new positive evidence.
Although Koca said the government had not disclosed asymptomatic cases, under pressure that touch-seeking groups were still there to isolate them and prevent the virus from spreading.
“Members of this organization are of paramount importance to the pandemic,” he said Wednesday.
A study published last month in the journal PloS Medicine found that 20% of other inflamed people are asymptomatic.
Turkish doctors and politicians, in addition to the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, have said in recent months that the epidemic is worse than that reported in the national count, which yielded hospital and local data.
They called for more powerful measures than the existing mandatory use of mask and social estating, including new orders to stay at home. Ankara lifted weekend closures and restrictions and reopened the business peak in June.
NUMBERS IN DISPUTE
Sebnem Korur Fincanci, a member of TTB’s central council, told Reuters that “a technique that prioritizes the right to live” would ensure that all cases are reported so that the public can take precautions.
Osman Elbek, of the association’s COVID-19 board of directors, said science does not help retain knowledge about asymptomatic infections.
“Unfortunately, in the world and in Turkey, the accumulation of COVID-19 is perceived as a political failure that can lead to a limitation of industry and tourism,” he said.
The Turkish economy fell to a maximum of 10% this quarter. The government forecasts a recovery, but economists say the economy will contract this year.
Koca said Thursday that the government “protects its national interest as much as the fitness of its public” by fighting COVID-19, which has killed more than 8,000 people in Turkey.
On Tuesday, CHP lawmaker Murat Emir published a document that would have shown positive cases on September 10, amounting to 29,377, to 1,512 new patients officially announced that day.
Koca refuted the knowledge and stated that the branch had such an interface, as indicated in the document. Reuters can independently verify knowledge.
On Thursday, Emir said the government had begun reporting “patients” in July to replace public perceptions, adding that the instances were now around 20,000. “Our citizens have a right to know,” he said, adding that a depleted budget has prevented the government from taking costly new measures. “They fought with the numbers instead of fighting the pandemic. “
(Edited by Jonathan Spicer, Edited by William Maclean)
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