Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, in a televised speech to the nation March 23, conceded that the coronavirus is now all over the country, but refrained from naming the locations of confirmed cases. So much for the transparency he boasts of displaying.
Until two weeks ago, Turkey looked happy and confident in evading the pandemic. Some pseudo-scientists on TV shows even claimed that Turks were naturally immune to the virus because of their genetic makeup. It did not take long for the outbreak in Turkey to appear exponential. For some experts, the infection rate in the initial days of the outbreak is worse than what Italy experienced. They speak of scary scenarios where the worst is yet to come and that Turkey could be on the path of Italy. Turkey's measures, at one point praised as timely, are now looking inadequate or belated.
As of March 26, Turkey had registered 2,433 cases (with 561 new ones in the previous 24 hours) and 59 deaths. Italy had registered 74,386 cases (with 5,210 new ones) with 7,503 deaths as of the same day.
Turkish society is acutely polarized. Roughly half the population tends to distrust anything that officials, above all President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, do or say. The lack of transparency that led to the public distrust has become more crucial than ever in the coronavirus crisis.
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