The Turkish Thoracic Society has warned that it is concerned that Turkey is losing control of its coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The intervention is not welcome news for Turkey’s tourism industry officials as it comes at the same time that tabloid newspapers in western Europe have started to caution readers that if they book a bargain late summer holiday in a Turkish resort they may find themselves quarantined once they return home. As things stand, the UK, for instance, does not have Turkey on its quarantine list but—as happened with France last week, causing chaos—it could be relatively quickly added if the British government concludes that the coronavirus risk in the country has substantially grown.

In a statement, the Turkish Thoracic Society—focused on matters in the respiratory medical field such as lung disease—said recent days have witnessed a serious increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, fatalities and intensive care patients in Turkey. Published on the society's website under the heading "Warning from Turkish Thoracic Society," the statement reads: "We are concerned that the control of the pandemic is being lost and believe that we are rapidly approaching the second peak of the first wave."

‘Vast under-reporting’

Recent months have seen foreign newspaper analyses, including one from the New York Times in late April, conclude that Turkey is vastly under-reporting its number of coronavirus cases.

The Turkish Thoracic Society listed a number of other concerns in its statement, including:

• "As it is known that PCR [polymerise chain reaction] tests can scientifically detect only 40% of [coronavirus] patients, it is thought that the announced number of cases and fatalities is less than half of the actual number [in Turkey]. Even the conditions to permit the implementation of this test have been narrowed down and it has been decided that if individuals do not show symptoms, they should not be tested even when they pose a risk of spreading the disease.”

• "Uninformed about the [actual picture of the] increasing number of cases, citizens cannot comprehend the gravity of the pandemic."

• The number of COVID-19 inpatients and intensive care patients is exceeding hospital treatment capacity.

• Hydroxychloroquine is still in Turkish medication protocols for the virus despite not complying with the up-to-date medical literature. At the same time, the society said it is “informed that, in the recent period, there has been difficulty in finding medicine, even favipiravir, recommended in the up-to-date treatment guide, in some provinces”.

• "While coronavirus is a disease affecting multiple organs, several hospitals recognise pulmonologists as the only responsible physicians, which causes them to be faced with a superhuman workload. Burnout has been diagnosed in health workers. In the last week, several pulmonologists have either wanted to retire or quit their jobs, especially in Alanya, Batman and Manisa.”

• "Health workers keep catching COVID-19 and losing their lives. COVID-19 has still not been recognised as an occupational disease.”

• "While physicians keep struggling against the pandemic, disregarding their own lives, a bill of law on 'the responsibility arising from the poor application of medical services' has been submitted to Parliament. The bill foresees heavy fines and prison sentences for physicians. That such a law is deemed worthy for the physicians working at the cost of their lives leads to a sense of hopelessness and unjust treatment."

250,000 threshold passed

Turkey’s official number of coronavirus cases this week passed the 250,000 threshold. By the end of August 18, the official records showed 251,805 cases (up 1,263 on the day) with 6,016 fatalities (up 20 on the day).

The country—which saw its international tourism industry, a vital hard currency earner for Turkey’s fragile economy, demolished by the virus across June and July, with officials hoping for a big rebound at least at resorts in August and September—is now logging more than a 1,000 cases on a daily basis, following a substantial uptick in the infection rate in the past couple of weeks.

“The majority of new patients can be easily treated. But the spread increases the number of seriously ill patients whose treatment is difficult,” Turkey’s health minister Fahrettin Koca wrote on Twitter on August 17.