Black Sea region records highest number of coronavirus cases, map shows

ISTANBUL

The Black Sea Region has turned out to be Turkey’s most severely coronavirus-affected region, with the highest rate of coronavirus cases recorded per 100,000 people in its provinces last week, according to a map published by Turkey’s Health Ministry.

The rate of the number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people between Feb. 8 and 14 was 228.02 in the province of Trabzon, 202.44 in the neighboring province of Rize and 194.42 in the province of Ordu, according to the map.

Turkey’s health minister on Feb. 15 announced the number of COVID-19 cases on a provincial basis as part of a new weekly initiative.

“From now on, we will announce the number of cases for [the past] seven days at the beginning of each week,” Fahrettin Koca tweeted.

The rate of the number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people is 60.19 in Istanbul, a metropolis with over a 16 million population, 35.49 in the capital Ankara and 44.39 in the western province of İzmir.

The map shows that the provinces with the lowest number of cases per week are Şırnak and Hakkâri in southeastern Anatolia.

Provinces in the Black Sea Region observed the highest number of coronavirus cases recorded between Feb. 8 and 14, according to a map published by Turkey’s Ministry of Health.

Working at the forefront to fight against the pandemic, filiation teams have observed that the coronavirus has spread most recently in the provinces of the Black Sea Region during funeral prayers, condolence ceremonies and home visits.

Authorities have started to warn citizens, stating that the virus was spreading more at homes where they gathered for condolence ceremonies in the aforementioned provinces.

Citizens also showed concerns and worry over the high number of COVID-19 cases.

Haşim İslamoğlu, a resident in Trabzon, underlined that people became more relaxed in terms of adhering to personal precautions due to the decrease in the number of coronavirus cases.

Oğuz Şişman, another resident, noted that the people did not comply with wearing masks and social distancing rules due to the sunny weather recently.

Another resident, Ömer Güney, claimed that the COVID-19 measures were not given much respect in rural areas of the region.

As of Feb. 15, Turkey confirmed more than 2.59 million COVID-19 cases, 27,562 fatalities, and over 2.48 million recoveries.

Turkey began a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, starting with health care workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence in the vaccines.

Since early December 2020, Turkey has also been implementing curfews on nights and weekends to check the spread of coronavirus.