Sudden surge in Istanbul deaths casts doubt on Turkey’s COVID-19 stats - Jurnal

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Source: https://ahvalnews.com/coronavirus/su...9-stats-jurnal

Sudden surge in Istanbul deaths casts doubt on Turkey’s COVID-19 stats - Jurnal
Apr 07 2020 07:07 Gmt+3
Last Updated On: Apr 07 2020 07:12 Gmt+3

A spike in the number of deaths in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul in March and April shed doubt on the accuracy of government data pertaining to coronavirus-related deaths, Turkish news site Jurnal reported.

While the mortality figures for four years leading up to 2020 remained within the same range in Istanbul, the year that the pandemic hit saw a sudden uptick by 1,218, it said.

The city, which is the epicentre for Turkey’s COVID-19 outbreak, has registered 7,791 deaths between March 16 and April 5, a jump from 6,573 for the same time period in 2019; 6,487 in 2018; 6,457 in 2017; and 6, 279 in 2016, Jurnal said, citing data from Turkey’s e-devlet (e-state) application...

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Source: https://ahvalnews.com/turkey-coronav...mbers-show-nyt

Turkey may be worse affected by COVID-19 than official numbers show – NYT
Apr 21 2020 01:02 Gmt+3
Last Updated On: Apr 21 2020 01:05 Gmt+3

COVID-19 coronavirus may have already caused significant damage before Turkey announced its first confirmed case on March 11, the New York Times said on Monday.

According to data compiled from public records of deaths in Istanbul, there have been some 2,100 more deaths in March and April 2020, compared to data from the last two years.

Around March 17, when Turkey announced the first coronavirus-related death, “the number of deaths overall in Istanbul was already considerably higher than historical averages,” NYT said. “An indication that the virus had arrived several weeks earlier.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s priority has been the economy, and he avoided ordering a nationwide lockdown as the economy had been faltering even before the pandemic, with unemployment reaching high levels, it said...