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THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE

4.1. SPECIAL REPORT ON TÜRKİYE’S FIGHT AGAINST
COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The novel coronavirus COVID-19, which first
appeared in China as an infectious disease, spreading
all around the world in a very short time, has turned
into a global and humanitarian crisis causing
devastating effects. In view of these devastating
effects all around the world, stricter measures have
been taken in public administration.

In its determined fight against the pandemic,
Türkiye has adopted a solid strategy, implemented
it step by step, and managed the situation in a
manner without causing any panic. As a first step,
Türkiye has taken the pandemic very seriously,
and completed the preliminary preparations. As
a second step, it has initiated strict quarantine
practices in order to prevent the virus from entering
the country or at least to delay its spread across the
country. By this means, it has impeded the entry of the virus into the country until 10
March 2020. As a third step, it has determined a road map with the purpose of curbing
the spread of the virus, diagnosing and treating the infected people as well as managing
the process smoothly and permanently. And as a fourth step, measures such as isolation,
social-distancing, public order, security as well as economic measures have been taken.

As emphasized in detail in the Report, the above-mentioned road map basically consists
of four main topics. The President of Türkiye H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdogan highlighted
that the fight against the coronavirus pandemic was conducted through four pillars
including healthcare services, social-distancing, ensuring public order, and maintaining
the supply chain.

The first pillar of the fight is in the field of healthcare. This area includes includes many
activities which can be summarised as follows:

• testing and diagnosing the infected persons as well as those who are suspected to be
infected,
• treating the diagnosed patients,
• meeting the healthcare needs, particularly the medical supplies and medicine
without any interruption,
• developing treatment protocols according to the emerging dynamic situations,

2020 ANNUAL REPORT 59