Charge that Turkey is hiding COVID's real size

Local doctors and politicians in Turkey are raising concerns that the government is downplaying the level of corruption spreading. Recent official data shows that about 1,000 and 700 new cases are identified in Turkey each day, while about 60 die of infection. But there are doubts that these figures are not real. American Voice correspondent Henry Ridgwell conveys concerns by opposition politicians who accuse President Recep Tayip Erdogan's government of covering the truth.

According to official data, Sanliurfa in the Anatolian region is one of the worst hit cities by Coronavirus in Turkey.

But doctors here say the situation is much heavier than the government announces.

Kenan Gengec runs a clinic downtown.

They report that every day we have about 1,000 and 500 infections at the country level. For a few days, however, we had between 600 and 700 cases in Sanliurfa alone. Clearly, the numbers being published are not correct”, he said.

These concerns were raised two weeks ago by leaders of two major Turkish cities -- Istanbul and Ankara. They warned of the Ministry of Health's lack of data with the local authorities' findings.

The leaders of the two cities are part of the opposition subject “The People's Party Republican”

Dr. Gengec believes the government is trying to limit economic damage.

It's the tourism season and that's why they worry about the economy. They worry the public will be angry. They don't want people to see the failures in such high numbers. That's why they don't give accurate information”, doctor Gengec said.

Minister of Health in Turkey and province Governor Sanliufra refused to be interviewed by the Voice of America. Journalist Ibrahim Wygur says the government does not provide full data.

Until a month ago, they published the number of positive cases in Sanliufa, but now they don't provide this information anymore. Now we can only publish the total number of days at the country level distributed by the government”, says journalist Wygur.

Residents in Sanliufra also express skeptics about government numbers.

I believe that the real figures are much higher”, says resident Mustafa Uma.

The reason why the virus is so prevalent in Saliufra is against the rules. Residents don't wear masks. They call it a shame. They go to weddings and many of them get infected”, says other resident Mehmet Veysel Akdeniz.

Turkey denies it is covering the truth. In recent days, the government added restrictive measures following the increase in cases. Keeping masks is mandatory outside the house. Wedding-like gatherings are limited to an hour while dancing and food is banned.