Turkey’s Late Response to Coronavirus Overshadows Ramadan
President Erdogan’s measures to contain the pandemic and its economic impact fail to reassure a jittery public.
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Photographer: Kerem Uzel/Bloomberg via Getty Images
One verity of the coronavirus pandemic: When top officials of a country — from China to the United States, and all parts in between — say things are under control, they probably aren’t. So the caveat-laden statement to that effect by Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca should be taken with saline skepticism.
Koca predicts that there will be no new wave of infections, “as long as measures are followed.” The Turkish government has announced a raft of new rules to prevent a surge of cases during the month of Ramadan, which is often marked by large gatherings and fast-breaking communal feasts.