INTRODUCTION
In March and April , it was feared that death toll would soar turning Turkey into another Italy , which was then the hardest hit country.
Within three months , Turkey has managed to control the outbreaks of the Pandemic.
WHY?
High testing rates and low death rates
Turkey has ended up with roughly same testing rates as France and a death rate ten times lower than Britain's.
Turkey has a low death of 2.7 percent compared to the number of positive cases.
When we look at other developed countries , the death rate in the United States is 5.3 percent, Spain is 10.5 percent, Italy is 13.2 percent, Germany is 3.5 percent, The UK is 13.5 percent, France is 17.3 percent.
Early preparedness
"We follow foreign news ," Dr Aslam says," and when we first heard about the virus we were really scared.
But Turkey has rallied faster than world thought-much faster than Europe and US. On March 10, 2020
Turkey confirms first Coronavirus case, WHO praised for vigilance.
Turkey Lockdown Strategy
Turkey has defied lockdown orthodoxy
Rather than place the whole economy in a coma, the authorities ordered the young (less than 20) and elderly (more than 65 years) to stay at home and asked everyone else, aside from those in consumer-facing businesses, to show up for work.
The Biggest cities were placed under a blanket curfew on weekends and holidays, no trips to the coffee shop, no shopping in crowded markets, no communal prayers at the mosque.
Turkey strategy seems to have worked
Advantages : The most vulnerable escaped the worst of the Pandemic, while those infected, mostly working-age adults, generally recovered.
It is important to note that Turkey population is mostly young and it is an advantage and one of the reason for low death.
Dr Jeremy Rossman
According to Dr Jeremy Rossman, lecturer in Virology at the university of Kent
"Turkey fits in the category of several countries that responded quickly with testing, tracing, isolation and movement restriction,"
"It's a fairly small club of countries that have been quite effective in reducing the viral spread,"
Tracking Technique
Dr Aslan, who is articulate, and energetic, leads a contract-tracing operation.
"Across Turkey there are 6000 teams"
Dr Aslan says they began tracking the virus on day one - 11 March - thanks to decade of experience tracking measles.
"Those plans were ready," she says
"We just got them off the shelf and started using them."
Turkey embraces Hydroxychloroquine
Turkey used Hydroxychloroquine as a strategy to treat COVID-19 patients though WHO has temporarily suspended it from their trial of possible treatments for the virus.
Chief Doctor NURETTIN YIYIT, at the Dr Sehit Ilham Varank hospital says it's key to use Hydroxychloroquine early.
"Other countries are using this drug too late,"he says,"especially the US.
We only use it at the beginning
We have no hesitation about this drug. We believe it's effective because we get the results.
Better Infrastructure
Over the past couple of decades, Mr Erdogan and his government have poured tens of billions of dollars into health care, most recently by building a network of hospitals the size of international airports.
The latest of these opened on May 21st boasting nearly 2700 beds about a sixth of them in intensive-care units.
But the extra capacity has helped. The wave of COVID-19 infectious never came close to overwhelming the health system and medical supplies never ran out.
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