'Fall in Turkey's virus cases no reason for complacency'

By Murat Yuksel

CANAKKALE, Turkey (AA) - The decrease in the number of coronavirus cases in Turkey should not cause complacency, a doctor said Tuesday.

Alper Sener, a research associate at the department of infectious diseases and clinical microbiology at Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, told Anadolu Agency that it was gratifying that figures fell with an increase in the public’s sensitivity to measures and the start of vaccination.

"We need to get vaccinated by waiting for our turn in appropriate groups without neglecting mask, distance, hand hygiene measures by not being fooled of the decrease in the numbers," he said.

Turkey has come a long way by trying to curb the spread of the virus through various measures since the beginning of the outbreak, he added.

"From the very beginning of the pandemic, we actually said that multiple measures should be taken together, by drawing an analogy of Swiss cheese. What were these measures? Mask, social-distancing, hand hygiene," he said.

Another measure to be taken into consideration is to not gather in crowded places, said Sener.

- Trump card against coronavirus

"With the arrival of the vaccine and its administration, we hold another trump card against coronavirus, so to speak," he said.

Emphasizing that the pace of the pandemic started to slow, he added: "We have seen the decrease in the numbers of more severely ill patients like the rate of hospitalization, and the number of patients in the intensive care also remained stable."

The vaccination must become widespread for sterilization to continue and the number of patients to decrease, he said, reiterating that as the vaccination program continues, people should strictly follow mask, distance and hand hygiene measures.