Published date: 19 April 2021 12:53 UTC | Last update: 56 min 19 sec ago
Despite swift early action to combat Covid-19, Turkey’s pandemic response has been hampered by inconsistent policies and poor compliance with rules. As the months have dragged on, questions have also been raised about the government’s handling of the pandemic.
Long- and short-term economic problems - including the depreciation of the Turkish Lira against the US dollar, rising unemployment, high inflation and unstable economic leadership - have further hamstrung any potential bounceback.
Turkey has seen an unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases in the last few weeks. The number of daily cases dropped close to 6,000 at one point in mid-February, but the country reported 61,400 new cases on Thursday and 297 deaths - the highest number in a single day since the virus was first detected over a year ago. The number of deaths was broken again on Sunday, with 318 in a s