Although at one point it was feared that Turkey might follow Italy’s trajectory in terms of fatalities from the novel coronavirus pandemic, the country has instead been doing reasonably well, with 3,641 deaths as of May 7 compared with Italy's 29,958. With particular self-confidence, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that drastic measures imposed on 80% of the population would be gradually eased. The restrictions on movements of people age 65 and older and 20 and younger will be loosened. Turkish Airlines is expected to resume its domestic flights in June.

The infection seems to have reached its peak and begun to decline. 

Statistics showing the ratio between total recovered cases and infections as well as the number of fatalities attest to such a trend.

As of May 7, Turkey had 133,721 total cases, with 82,984 recoveries and 43 deaths per million citizens. Germany, which roughly has the same population as Turkey which is widely considered a success story, had 168,912 cases, 139,900 recoveries and 7,336 dead, which translates into 88 deaths per million citizens.