As we know, a pandemic has been contracted from China which has infected people around the world. With the United States realizing it was infected, within a short period of time Europe experienced its first case early in March. The virus rapidly began to spread to all areas of Europe, including Turkey.
After a man returned to Turkey from a different part of Europe, he was the first patient to test positive for COVID-19. The virus began to spread swiftly across the country; two weeks after the first case was confirmed, coronavirus had extended to the entire area.
The virus created havoc, causing many consequences in the economic, social, and political fields of Turkey. However, the country responded to the virus extremely quickly, closing all schools, universities, restaurants, shopping malls, gyms, barber shops, etc. after they discovered the first case. Another obligation was the need to take precautions such as wearing masks everywhere, no gatherings, quarantining.
Compared to the US, the cases in Turkey are extremely low, with only about 130,000 in the country compared to over 1 million. Also, Turkey’s fatality rate is extremely lower than Italy and Spain due to the young population, and more medical resources. Turkey’s main focus is tracing where people came in contact with COVID-19, rather than taking tests. The President of Turkey believes that no one should visit the hospital, unless there is an emergency. With coronavirus being a very tricky virus to detect in young people, and their population being mostly younger, the citizens may be spreading it more than people think.
Even though Turkey started strong with keeping their cases lower than the US initially, the government created a 48-hour curfew for the majority of its country. The idea would not have been a bad idea, however the government did not inform the people until two hours before it began. The people in 31 provinces that were involved began to panic, flooding grocery stores, which may have been a turn for the worse.
President Erdogan created a campaign to gradually allow the population to return to normal life. An interesting spin on the virus’ quarantine has been taken, where they are allowing different age groups to go out at certain times during the day. People that are, over the age of 65 or under the age of 20, are only allowed outside once a day for 4 hours, but people from the ages of 20-64 can go out after May 13th, from 11:00am to 3:00pm. President Erdogan calls the campaign a way the citizens can have a controlled social life, so the virus doesn’t speedily take over the country as it did to the United States. However, the controlled social life is not as controlled as it is perceived, since people who are in the age range of 20-64 are essentially allowed to go out, even if most stores are closed.
Regarding the economic crisis in Turkey, certain measures have been taken to ensure the best possible outcome for the community's health. People who are retired are receiving around 1,500 dollars that will be sent to their home, instead of them having to pick up the payment. However, the government was criticized for the actions they were taking, which was supposedly unclear to the public.
“On 22 March, by presidential order, all bankruptcy and financial executionary proceedings were stopped until 30 April, except for obligations regarding alimony and child support,” wikipedia noted, quoting Anadolu Agency, an international news group. People of Turkey were relieved when the presidential order was announced. However, as another statement said, “As the country’s struggling businesses continue to experience shrinking revenues, the lira equivalent of servicing their foreign exchange liabilities has grown 20 per cent over the last 12 months. Add to that the nosedive in the central bank’s net foreign currency reserves to a meagre $1.5 billion.” Many businesses such as construction sites, factories, and some other businesses refused to close down since they felt unable to take the economic hit that the virus may bring.
When Turkey was first infected with the virus, the government believed they were taking the best precautionary measures, however Turkey is now one of the top 10 countries in the world with the most cases. Being that Turkey’s population is mostly young, the mortality rate is way lower than other areas. Overall, the virus will continue to spread whether or not a quarantine is ordered for the country. Once a vaccine is created, or most of the population is infected, then we will begin to see a drop in the amount of cases in Turkey and around the world.
After a man returned to Turkey from a different part of Europe, he was the first patient to test positive for COVID-19. The virus began to spread swiftly across the country; two weeks after the first case was confirmed, coronavirus had extended to the entire area.
The virus created havoc, causing many consequences in the economic, social, and political fields of Turkey. However, the country responded to the virus extremely quickly, closing all schools, universities, restaurants, shopping malls, gyms, barber shops, etc. after they discovered the first case. Another obligation was the need to take precautions such as wearing masks everywhere, no gatherings, quarantining.
Compared to the US, the cases in Turkey are extremely low, with only about 130,000 in the country compared to over 1 million. Also, Turkey’s fatality rate is extremely lower than Italy and Spain due to the young population, and more medical resources. Turkey’s main focus is tracing where people came in contact with COVID-19, rather than taking tests. The President of Turkey believes that no one should visit the hospital, unless there is an emergency. With coronavirus being a very tricky virus to detect in young people, and their population being mostly younger, the citizens may be spreading it more than people think.
Even though Turkey started strong with keeping their cases lower than the US initially, the government created a 48-hour curfew for the majority of its country. The idea would not have been a bad idea, however the government did not inform the people until two hours before it began. The people in 31 provinces that were involved began to panic, flooding grocery stores, which may have been a turn for the worse.
President Erdogan created a campaign to gradually allow the population to return to normal life. An interesting spin on the virus’ quarantine has been taken, where they are allowing different age groups to go out at certain times during the day. People that are, over the age of 65 or under the age of 20, are only allowed outside once a day for 4 hours, but people from the ages of 20-64 can go out after May 13th, from 11:00am to 3:00pm. President Erdogan calls the campaign a way the citizens can have a controlled social life, so the virus doesn’t speedily take over the country as it did to the United States. However, the controlled social life is not as controlled as it is perceived, since people who are in the age range of 20-64 are essentially allowed to go out, even if most stores are closed.
Regarding the economic crisis in Turkey, certain measures have been taken to ensure the best possible outcome for the community's health. People who are retired are receiving around 1,500 dollars that will be sent to their home, instead of them having to pick up the payment. However, the government was criticized for the actions they were taking, which was supposedly unclear to the public.
“On 22 March, by presidential order, all bankruptcy and financial executionary proceedings were stopped until 30 April, except for obligations regarding alimony and child support,” wikipedia noted, quoting Anadolu Agency, an international news group. People of Turkey were relieved when the presidential order was announced. However, as another statement said, “As the country’s struggling businesses continue to experience shrinking revenues, the lira equivalent of servicing their foreign exchange liabilities has grown 20 per cent over the last 12 months. Add to that the nosedive in the central bank’s net foreign currency reserves to a meagre $1.5 billion.” Many businesses such as construction sites, factories, and some other businesses refused to close down since they felt unable to take the economic hit that the virus may bring.
When Turkey was first infected with the virus, the government believed they were taking the best precautionary measures, however Turkey is now one of the top 10 countries in the world with the most cases. Being that Turkey’s population is mostly young, the mortality rate is way lower than other areas. Overall, the virus will continue to spread whether or not a quarantine is ordered for the country. Once a vaccine is created, or most of the population is infected, then we will begin to see a drop in the amount of cases in Turkey and around the world.
Bibliography
thearabweekly.com/turkeys-response-coronavirus-has-been-complete-shambles
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