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A large percentage of the world is now under some or other form of lockdown.

That’s not to say that tactics don’t vary greatly from one country to the next, of course.

Sweden has taken a rather lax approach, although they look to be losing that battle, with deaths now topping 1 300, and the less said about Belarus and their madcap dictator the better.

In Turkey, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the helm, Turkey’s lockdown got off to a rather inauspicious start, announced just two hours before it was due to go into effect.

If you think panic buying was bad here in South Africa, imagine the rush to grab your goodies when given almost no warning.

Following that chaos, Erdoğan laid out a clearer plan, that is quite different from lockdown regulations anywhere else in the world.

CNN reports:

During the week, the stay-at-home order only applies to those under the age of 20 or over 65. All other citizens are in theory allowed to go out, although many small businesses are closed, restaurants are open for delivery or pick-up only, public places like parks are off limits, and banks have limited hours.

By contrast, construction sites are in full swing, along with factories and other businesses that are unwilling to take an economic hit.

Some experts say partial restrictions like Turkey’s can be successful — as long as those who are vulnerable continue to be protected and those who do venture out follow the appropriate measures.

At the time of writing, Turkey has in excess of 74 000 cases, and more than 1 600 deaths.

This curve, via Worldometers, doesn’t look to be flattening:

Some experts say restrictions like these can be effective, although others say that Turkey’s number of confirmed cases makes the strategy a risky one.

Here’s Dr. Jeremy Rossman, an honourary senior lecturer in Virology at the University of Kent:

“At [Turkey’s] level, most countries are implementing a full lockdown. A partial lockdown can be good, it can balance keeping some of the economy functioning while still trying to contain the outbreak” He says. “It depends on how well the population is adhering to the guidance and how well physical distancing and hand hygiene are being implemented in workplaces. But at the rate Turkey is going right now, there is risk this won’t be sufficient.”

Turkey is among the top 10 countries in the world when it comes to confirmed coronavirus cases, and its toll is increasing by more than 4,000 cases per day. And the mortality rate has been much lower here than elsewhere — which has raised eyebrows.

Criticism about the transparency of their numbers is widespread, including from the Turkish Medical Association (TMA). The health minister, Fahrettin Koca, refutes those allegations, saying the country’s lower mortality rate (just above 2% of confirmed cases result in death) is due to the country’s large healthcare capacity and effective treatment protocol.

Others point at Turkey’s use of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and favipiravir, a Japanese antiviral, as playing a role:

But Lancaster University’s Dr. Munir is one of many medical experts who opposes the use of the malaria drug.

He said the risk of the side effects outweighs any benefit that using hydroxychloroquine may have.

“Treatments have very little impact,” he explained. “When it comes to hydroxychloroquine, the patients might have recovered from Covid-19 anyway, but after a year they might see heart problems coming back, that blindness is appearing. This is why there isn’t enough evidence to approve these drugs on a mass scale.”

Turkish officials say there is still insufficient data to publish any findings around the efficiency of hydroxychloroquine.

There is a growing number of voices calling for Turkey to enact a full lockdown, including mayors, politicians, and medical researchers.

This from ALM:

Dr. Ozlem Azap, an infectious disease researcher at Baskent University in Ankara, said the fact many workers continue traveling to job sites on weekdays poses a hazard to the wider population, as they can transmit the disease both on the job and at home.

“For economic reasons, the government is not willing to shut factories and manufacturing centers, but this causes a big problem,” Azap told Al-Monitor. “Two-day curfews are not enough to stop the spread.”

…Five Turkish economists published a paper this week indicating Turkey “faces a 17% economic contraction” if state officials do not pursue stricter lockdown measures. The researchers predicted a full lockdown could contain the pandemic in 38 days and limit GDP declines by 7.8% if a full China-style lockdown is imposed. State officials have so far resisted calls for such measures.

As with many countries around the world, I guess time will tell whether or not Turkey’s novel approach works.

I get the feeling they may pay for being lax further down the line.

[sources:cnn&alm]