Until it reported a first confirmed infection late on March 10, Turkey was claiming to be coronavirus-free. Whether that official picture describes the reality of the global pandemic’s impact on the country so far is the subject of heated debate, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to be taking no chances himself—he appeared in Turkey’s parliament on March 11 with an extra cameraman, namely an aide with a thermal camera checking people that might get close to the president for fever which might indicate coronavirus.

The aide reportedly scanned journalists and politicians who crowded around Erdogan.

Erdogan later told members of his AKP party that Turkey was taking appropriate steps to protect all of its citizens. “No virus is stronger than our measures,” he said.

That assessment appears to be severely doubted by experts in the country.

Al-Monitor on March 11 spoke to Dr Ozlem Azap, an infectious disease researcher at Baskent University in Ankara. “One reason for the delay in recorded cases inside Turkey is the smaller number of tests conducted,” Azap was quoted as saying. “South Korea performed nearly 2,000 tests per one million people, Italy 400 per million people, while Turkey has performed 11 tests per million people as of last week, and these figures haven’t increased much in recent days.”

Striking a different note, Reuters on March 11 said that in an interview hours before the announcement of Turkey’s first coronavirus case, Irshad Shaikh, the World Health Organisation (WHO) health security programme leader in Turkey, praised Ankara’s preventative measures and good organisation, saying it had been “very lucky, vigilant and cautious” in the face of the virus, also known as COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s tourism sector, which accounts for around 13% of the country’s economy, stepped up calls for the government to provide it with financial help to deal with the expected impact of the coronavirus spread.

Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said a support package for the sector would be announced within the week, adding that Turkey would take measures to reduce tourist demand until the end of April and that hotels had been advised to delay summer openings.

The Tourism Evaluation Council said it suggested financial support for tour operators and airlines, reductions in utilities costs, and measures to increase bookings.