Coronavirus Comparison - UK and Turkey

When I started my blog, the plan was to avoid mentioning the pandemic, as much as possible, other than an initial post on 6^th April explaining why I had purposely decided to stay in Turkey. 

Being on 100% curfew since late March is making it increasingly difficult to find new things to report and I do spend a lot of time keeping up to speed with what is happening in the UK as well as Turkey.  As both countries are now easing restrictions, I though it a good time to let you know how Turkey have managed the virus so you can compare.

Turkey started to monitor incoming flights; testing and quarantining those they allowed to disembark as long ago as February or early March.  When it became obvious it was a pandemic, the borders were closed, international and domestic flights curtailed and inter-province travel banned.  The only incoming flights are repatriation of citizens and residents who are quarantined, at the government’s expense, in hotels and halls of residence near the airport for 14 days.  Some have reported it’s quite luxurious with 3 meals a day and wifi provided. 

From the start, tracking and testing has been in place.  Suspected cases are personally visited by medical staff wearing bio-hazard suits and tested where they are.  Then appropriate quarantine action is taken.

Towards the end of March, the over 65s, the chronically ill and, a few weeks later the under 20s, were placed on 100% curfew, meaning no going out in public at all.  Shopping was to be done either by family or friends or via a telephone system to the council, which is also to be used for doctor or hospital appointments.

Schools were closed and won’t reopen until September.  Parks and beaches were closed as were hotels, bars, restaurants, night clubs, hammams, gyms, etc; basically any public areas.  Non-essential shops, barbers and salons also closed and only banks, supermarkets, bakeries, pharmacies, mobile phone shops, operating to reduced hours, remained open.  Even before the ‘lock down’ supermarkets had installed hand sanitising stations and many people were wearing masks.  Obtaining masks wasn’t a problem and everyone in Turkey has always used cologne for refreshing their hands and it is 80% proof!  The over 65s were issued with a pack containing a few masks, gloves and anti-bacterial disinfectant for ‘emergencies’.  For others, the sale of masks was initially stopped and then issued free of charge in a controlled manner through the pharmacies, similar to the system in Spain.  This was to prevent stock piling and profiteering at the time.  They are now freely on sale at a price fixed by the government.

Whilst other businesses were allowed to continue operating for those aged between 20 and 65, the closure of all public places meant the only option was to go to work, the bank, the food shops then home.  Anyone walking about would be challenged by the police patrols so, in the main and photos posted on the local FB pages showed, this was mainly adhered to.  The council, however, did take the opportunity to continue with the area improvement works which, by law, have to be concluded before the start of the season in May.

To ensure that everyone stayed in other than work and shopping, the government introduced 100% weekend curfews where no one was allowed out.  These were extended to include public holidays.  We’ve so far had a 2 day, a 3 day and two 4 day curfews.  The last one was at Bayram, which marks the end of Ramadan and, as far as I can see, most observed the rules, which must have been very difficult as the four day celebration is very similar to our Christmas where family and friends normally meet to share food and children receive gifts of chocolate or money.

After a suggestion by a newspaper, the government decided to allow the over 65s out on a Sunday for a few hours walking exercise.  Travel by car is not permitted, only walking from their home and back within the permitted timescales.  Initially this was during the 100% weekend curfew for everyone else but as the weekend curfews were lifted, people were asked to stay away during the over 65s ‘time’.  Children were also allocated a day and time that they could go out for exercise.  Of course, mask wearing and social distancing had to be observed by all during these periods.

From 20^th May, non-essential shops, barbers and hairdressers have been allowed to open under strict conditions.  For the Turkish men in particular, the barber is an important part of their culture.

As of 1^st June, many of the restrictions have been lifted but with strict conditions attached.  Hotels and restaurants – but not bars – have been allowed to re-open.  The beaches and parks are open.  Travel restrictions between provinces have been lifted.  Domestic tourism is allowed.  Masks are mandatory in public and there is still a 100% curfew on the over 65s, the chronically ill and children, although children are allowed to travel with their parents to go on holiday but they are not allowed to leave their hotel confines other than on their allotted ‘exercise’ days.  Over 65s are only allowed out on their allotted exercise days.  There is a lot of debate on FB whether or not the chronically ill are allowed out to exercise yet as they weren’t specifically mentioned in the President’s speech at the end of May.

The reasoning for keeping children, those over 65 and the chronically ill on curfew is that the children are the most likely to be asymptomatic spreaders and the others are the most at risk.  The government want to judge the impact of the easing of restrictions before lifting those curfews.

International travel is just about re-starting but only to and from certain countries and the UK is most definitely NOT on the list.  There are still occasional repatriation flights but they often get cancelled and most are not to the UK..  Anyone leaving the country has to be tested first and if found to have the virus is denied embarkation and quarantined.  Testing of arrivals continues.  Internally, anyone travelling on public transport, has to first download a track and trace app which gives a code.  As I’m not going out at present, I’ve not downloaded but saved the information for later but I do know that you can’t book an internal flight without the code.

So that’s how it’s been and is, in Turkey.  Being the Excel nerd that I am, and from a point of interest, I’ve been keeping my own records and graphs of the British, Turkish and World figures for my own comparison purposes. 

Below is the daily report for yesterday.  This is the same format presented every day.  I managed to get hold of this example in English.

Below is my comparison graph of cases.  Apart from being much lower numbers in Turkey, despite a larger population, I believe is because there has been pro-active trace and test since day one. Figures are sourced from the Worldometers website www.worldometers.com. 

                                                        

And this final graph compares deaths between the two countries.  In Turkey, the highest daily figure reported was 127 on 20th April and is steady declining every day.   Figures are sourced from the Worldometers website www.worldometers.com. 

I have very strong personal views on how the pandemic has been handled in both countries. At the point where Turkey, and other countries, were acknowledging the seriousness of the pandemic and taking action, I became horrified at the UK government's lack of action. Where action has been taken it has seemed to be too little too late or even.  Today I heard that at PMQs, the British PM said he was proud of how Coronavirus has been managed in the UK.  I'll say no more.