COVID figures down drastically, but pandemic is not over yet

ESKİŞEHİR / SAMSUN

No new COVID-19 case has been confirmed in two weeks in Eskişehir, which was the province with the highest coronavirus disease figure two months ago, according to the Health Ministry data.

There were around new 547 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in a day in March.

At the newly-established City Hospital, 400 beds and 150 intense care units were allocated for coronavirus patients in those days, chief physician Yaşar Bildirici told Demirören News Agency.

“Today, I can tell the good news that there are two COVID patients in the intensive care units at the Eskişehir City Hospital. One more person with COVID is hospitalized in the outpatient service,” he said.

“We expect the disease to become a normal and common one. But we shouldn’t forget that the foremost condition for that is the completion of the vaccination process, particularly the booster doses,” he added.

The hospital serves 1,200 beds in total. In the Central Anatolian province, the rate of people with at least two doses of jabs against COVID-19 is around 86 percent.

Meanwhile, internal medicine specialist Özkan Akyol warned citizens of close physical contact during the three-day Ramadan feast holiday, which ends today.

“COVID-19 figures declined significantly. But we cannot say that the pandemic is over,” said Akyol, who works at a private hospital in the Black Sea province of Samsun.

Mandatory use of protective face masks is no longer required in Turkey, as the government eased measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in a historic move last week.