Turkey’s health system could collapse under the growing weight of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, World Health Organisation (WHO) Turkey office head Irshad Ali Shaikh told Deutsche Welle Turkish on December 6.
"We are facing worryingly high numbers," Shaikh said, referring to the country’s newly recorded infections rate that is now coming in at over 30,000 per day.
"Despite the fact that the situation of the hospitals in Turkey is not as bad as those in Europe or the United States,’’ Shaikh added, "we may witness the collapse of the health and hospital systems if the numbers continue on this trajectory".
Turkey’s number of infections per head of population has climbed to among the highest numbers seen around the world while its COVID-19 death toll has more than more than doubled in less than three weeks.
After coming under pressure through the summer and autumn, Turkey lately finely agreed to release its daily number of new asymptomatic cases as well as symptomatic cases, but has not released a total taking into account both types of cases since its coronavirus outbreak began in early March.
Last week, the country brought in a weekday curfew and total weekend lockdowns to help stem the spread of the virus.
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