Tough times in fight against virus ‘left behind’

Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has said the difficult period in the fight against COVID-19 has been left behind and life will turn to normal soon, but stressed the current personal measures taken in protection against the virus will continue.

Noting that the pandemic was still on the agenda, Koca assured that "this will change in a short time."

"Never forget the role of the vaccine in getting to this point," the minister noted.

As the number of daily COVID-19 infections has been hovering at around 90,000, a member of Turkey's Coronavirus Science Board has stressed that the disease still threatens the country.

"Turkey is still under threat with COVID-19 cases as there is an increase in the number of deaths at the moment. Nearly 200 deaths per day is not an insignificant figure. That's why the threat is enormous," said Professor Levent Akın, a public health specialist from Hacettepe University.

Noting that the number of daily cases exceeded 90,000 for the first time, Akın said this means the disease is still widespread, warning everyone to be careful.

Akın stressed that the same problem persists not only in Turkey but also in many countries.

Touching on the course of the pandemic, the expert pointed out that too many indoor and outdoor meetings have been held in recent days, and this has increased the rapid spread of COVID-19 with the Omicron variant.