Turkey with over 56,900 cases and 1,198 deaths is slowly emerging as the new hotspot of the deadly Coronavirus in the West Asian region.
While Iran continues to lead the region with the greatest number of cases at 71,686 and about 4400 deaths, Turkey is second in the ranking and the number is only expected to rise.
Turkey has been criticized for its handling of the situation and experts believe that the delay in recognizing the problem will lead to more cases and could emerge as a new disaster in the fight against the virus.
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The local media has been highlighting the various pro-government initiatives such as Turkey’s aid to UK, US and the Balkans in the form of export of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and has criticized other countries such as India for its strategy to counter the virus, it has overlooked the disaster awaiting Turkey.
Last week, when the number of cases went up to 30,000; the government finally woke up and enforced a lockdown and took certain measures such as wearing of masks in public places compulsory.
Public transport has been suspended and only essential services are being permitted.
According to health experts who have analysed the situation, Turkey will soon overtake Iran in terms of the number of cases and clearly more needs to be done to avoid a catastrophe.
Elsewhere in the region, Israel has reported over 10,000 cases and has initiated measures to lockdown parts of Jerusalem which has over a fifth of the total cases.
This has largely been ascribed to the orthodox sections of various religions who have refused to follow the lockdown.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a strict clampdown on Sunday.
The Gulf Cooperation Council members have effectively managed to insulate themselves from the world and have fewer cases in the region.