Health minister warns of ‘butterfly effect’ of virus spread
ANKARA
Any complacency in the fight against the coronavirus may have serious consequences for the entire country, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has warned, referring to the “butterfly effect.”
“A small event may trigger a chain of events as the spread of the coronavirus, which generated from China’s Wuhan, to the entire world,” Koca wrote on Twitter.
There is a small probability that the same could happen and affect the entire country, he added.
“Risks remain. Let’s adhere to the measures [taken to curb the spread of COVID-19],” Koca said.
Several incidents reported in the different parts of the country offer evidence to substantiate the health minister’s warning.
In the Islahiye district of the southern province of Gaziantep, at least 47 people have been put under quarantine after paying a visit to a man at his home.
The 63-year-old man fell ill following an angiography operation in a local hospital. He was hospitalized after he suffered from chest pain and coughing.
It emerged that the man had COVID-19. However, dozens of people had already visited the man at his home after he was discharged from the hospital following the operation to offer their get well wishes.
Health teams tracked the individuals, who contacted the man, and decided to put 47 people under quarantine.
In a similar event in the eastern province of Van, a man, who traveled from another city to Van’s Edremit district, to visit his bothers’ family, who died of a heart attack, to offer condolences, initially passed the virus on to at least 12 people from the same household.
The local health teams also found that two more people, who attended the funeral, contracted COVID-19. The entire neighborhood, where these two people live, was placed under quarantine.
