People should issue their own state of emergency, Turkey's COVID-19 committee member says

A member of parliament's COVID-19 Science Committee said that everyone in Turkey should issue their personal state of emergency in the face of Ankara's highly limited precautions. Turkey recently placed a partial evening curfew on the weekends, although experts have been urging a 14-day lockdown.

Thursday November 19 2020 11:28 am

Müzeyyen Yüce / DUVAR

Everyone in Turkey should consider themselves in a state of emergency and take the utmost precautions against COVID-19 in the face of Ankara's partial restrictions, parliamentary COVID-19 Science Committee member Prof. Mustafa Necmi İlhan said.

İlhan's comments follow a series of very particular restrictions from Ankara that mandate a curfew between 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. on the weekends, while experts have been pleading with the state to issue a 14-day national lockdown.

"More will follow if these precautions don't bring down the number of patients and deaths. Everyone is waiting for restrictions but people can issue their own state of emergency," İlhan noted.

While the committee member urged everyone to stay at home on the weekends, he noted that commuting to work was not as risky as socializing outside, which is why Ankara excluded workers from all restrictions.

Meanwhile, Turkish Medical Association (TTB) COVID-19 Committee member Prof. Cavit Işık Yavuz noted that the number of patients who have died in the first 17 days of November have surpassed the entirety of the month of May.

"The arrival of winter will make it difficult to ensure clean air circulation in workplaces and vehicles. It's likely that we will encounter a situation that will strain the healthcare system," Yavuz said.

Yavuz said that the measures implemented by Ankara "will surely have positive effects," but that the needs to take additional steps to minimize workplace interactions.