Turkey: Coronavirus Latest News

As of 28 March 2020;

Turkish Airlines had already suspended all international flights as a measure to fight the Covid-19. The international flights to all destinations, except to Addis Ababa, Hong Kong, Moscow, New York, and Washington,

were suspended until 17 April.

With death toll has risen to 92 and the total number of infected risen to 5,698, new measurements concerning domestic flights have been announced as well. Turkish Airlines has announced that they will use the New Istanbul Airport for their domestic flights from Istanbul, and the Ankara Esenboga Airport for their flights from Ankara. Only a couple of big cities will be covered within the flight routes. The passengers of the suspended flights can request their money back or change their tickets without any fee.

In the meanwhile, cargo flights will continue operating as usual.

As of 27 March 2020;

The number of Coronavirus deaths in Turkey has risen to 75. Under the victims is also a 33-year-old nurse without any known chronic diseases in her past. She was working in a private hospital in Istanbul and was according to the research in the 0,2% risk group.

With 1196 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, the number of infected has risen to 3629. So far, 26 people have been cured successfully. The Health Minister of Turkey, Fahrettin Koca, has repeated his concerns and asked people to stay at home and avoid contact unless necessary.

As of 25 March 2020;

Covid-19, or Coronavirus, emerged in Wuhan city of China in the previous months and from there quickly spread around the whole world. Coronavirus in Turkey has been official with the disclosure of the first case on 11 March 2020.

Described as a "pandemic" (global epidemic) by the World Health Organization, this disease has been transmitted to more than 380 thousand people in more than 160 countries and regions. The total number of cases in Turkey as of 25 March 2020 is 2,433, following a surge of 561 cases within the last 24 hours, while the number of deaths has reached 59 people. It is stated that the number of people who lost their lives in the world has exceeded 16.500s.

It is determined that this virus, which is transmitted from person to person by respiratory droplets, first passed from one animal to another.

As the human system is not familiar with this virus, the immune system plays a crucial role in determining the course of the disease by each person, which means that especially those with chronic illnesses, older people, and people with weak immunity are considered in the risk group. Some people can be carriers of the Covid-19. Especially with children, this is the case. The virus can be unnoticed, but still can be transmitted to other people.

After the first Coronavirus case in Turkey hit the news on 11 March, people approached by the government to "stay at home" trying to prevent the spread of the disease. The first Covid-19 death in Turkey has been reported one week after the first official announcement of the virus in Turkey, so on 17 March. The number of deaths in the following days increased with 1,3,5,12,9,7,7,15, and the total number of deaths reached 59 as of 25 March.

Turkey, as of 25 March, is ranking on place 15 under the countries with the most deaths worldwide from the Covid-19. Looking at the development of the outbreak in Turkey, an upward trend is being observed. The Health Minister of Turkey, Fahrettin Koca, tries to raise awareness of the public by naming the number of new infections and deaths daily from their official Twitter account and tries to prevent the spread of the disease by the slogan "life fits home, stay at home."

Turkey, like the rest of the world, has already taken a series of measures to fight the spreading of Covid-19. Schools are temporarily closed, and distance education has started. In line with the decision taken by the Ministry of Interior, cafes, restaurants, gathering centers, cinema, and theater halls have also temporarily been closed. Restrictions are imposed on people who are over 65 years old.

Flights to most countries have been canceled, and the total number of passengers for bus travels has been reduced by half to provide social distance.

There is no specific medicine to Covid-19. Supportive treatment is given to people who are seriously ill. Apart from this, the whole world continues its efforts to find vaccines and drugs against this virus.