Turks believe coronavirus is country's biggest problem, survey shows

A recent survey has revealed that Turks are becoming more pessimistic about the outlook of the novel coronavirus crisis, as the percentage of citizens who say the epidemic will come to an end in a few months or by the end of summer is decreasing significantly. Some 74 percent of Turks say that the outbreak is currently the country's most important problem, whereas 42 percent of Turks believe that it will take longer than six months to bring the epidemic under control.

Duvar English

Some 74 percent of Turks believe that the novel coronavirus is currently the “most important problem” of the country, as the percentage of citizens who think that epidemic will last longer than a few months is significantly on the rise, according to a recent survey conducted by research company Ipsos.

Turkey’s coronavirus death toll rises by 92 to 2,992, with 2,392 new casesTurkey’s coronavirus death toll rises by 92 to 2,992, with 2,392 new cases

The rate of those who are pessimistic about the COVID-19 situation is increasing significantly. When the first case broke out on March 11, some 45 percent of Turks said that the epidemic would come to an end in a couple of months, whereas only 24 percent said it would last for longer than six months.

As Turkey enters the last week of April, the percentage of citizens who think the outbreak will last longer than six months has increased to 42 percent; whereas the percentage of citizens who think that it will be brought under control in a few months has decreased to 35 percent.

Asked what they thought Turkey's “biggest problem” was, some 74 percent of the interviewees said it was “coronavirus,” whereas 16 percent said it “economy,” some 9 said “terror,” and 1 percent pointed out to “education.”

Ipsos CEO Sidar Gedik said that they had previously never seen a problem dominating the agenda of Turkish people to such a great extent.

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“After the first coronavirus case appeared in March in our country, the epidemic became our country's biggest problem, as is the case for the whole world. It has now come to occupy the citizens' agenda in a very dominant way, which was not the case for either economy or terror in the past. The epidemic is the biggest problem of our country for every three people out of four,” Gedik said.

The number of people who have died from COVID-19 in Turkey rose by 92 in the last 24 hours to 2,992, Health Ministry data showed on April 28, continuing a downward trend.

The total number of cases rose by 2,392 to 114,653, the data showed, the highest total outside Western Europe or the United States.

The increase in case numbers was slightly higher than the last two days, but still broadly in line with a decline since it peaked over 5,000 in mid-April, while the number of daily recoveries has increased.