Health minister warns public with Chinese tweets

ANKARA

Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca resorted to an unusual way to warn the public about the ongoing risks from the coronavirus by posting photos with Chinese inscriptions along with his tweets.

“Contrary to what happens globally in the fight against COVID-19, we have managed to put the difficult days behind. The period ahead is important. Let’s not forget that risks remain. The outbreak is not over yet,” Koca wrote on Twitter, noting that the number of daily reported virus cases were around 1,000.

He added photos with Chinese to his tweets and wrote: “It translates to Turkish: If we do not heed precautions, we will be back to square one.”

Çin’de ortaya çıkan COVID-19’a karşı küresel gidişin aksine, sıkı tedbirlerle en zor günleri aştık. Bundan sonrası da bu kadar önemli. Riskin devam ettiğini unutmayalım. Günlük yeni vaka sayımız 1.000 civarında. Salgın sona ermedi. Türkçesi: Tedbirlere uymazsak başa dönebiliriz. pic.twitter.com/OYZ7Z9gb9M

— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) June 2, 2020

Koca also said that the easing of measures does not necessarily mean everything has returned to their normal course.

“If you do not take the necessary precautions, you may never know the consequences you have to face,” he wrote in another tweet along with a picture with a note in Chinese. “It translates: What a coronavirus patient goes through in intensive care unit is as unfamiliar as Chinese is to you,” Koca wrote.

The minister also noted that the number of patients who need intensive care has been declining.