ANKARA: Turkey will start to report its total number of coronavirus cases later this week, the country’s health minister said in an interview published Sunday, after Ankara was criticized for only releasing figures for patients showing symptoms of infection.
Fahrettin Koca told the newspaper Hurriyet that asymptomatic cases would be included in Turkey’s published data from Oct. 15, which would be shared with the World Health Organization.
Last month, the minister revealed Turkey had been publishing only the daily number of patients displaying symptoms of COVID-19. This led to criticism from medical groups and opposition parties that had long questioned the accuracy of the statistics.
Turkey’s latest daily figures from Saturday showed 1,649 new patients and 56 deaths. It has reported more than 334,000 patients since the outbreak started, and 8,778 fatalities.
Turkey backs down after international outcry over inaccurate COVID-19 figures
https://arab.news/w6yn8
Turkey backs down after international outcry over inaccurate COVID-19 figures
- Ankara was criticized for only releasing figures for patients showing symptoms of infection
- Medical groups and opposition parties had long questioned the accuracy of the statistics
US lawmaker Fine criticized by rights advocates, Democrats after anti-Muslim remarks
- Fine’s past comments include calling for the mass expulsion of all Muslims from the US, labeling of Muslims as “terrorists” and the mocking of the starvation and killing of Palestinians in Gaza, among others
WASHINGTON: Rights advocates and multiple Democrats on Tuesday condemned anti-Muslim comments by Republican US Representative Randy Fine who said on Sunday that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”
Fine, whose comments against Muslims have often sparked outrage, has dismissed the criticism and since doubled down on his remarks on social media. The Council on American-Islamic Relations designated the Republican US lawmaker from Florida as an anti-Muslim extremist last year.
“If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” Fine said on X on Sunday in a post that had over 40 million views as of Tuesday afternoon.
Some high-profile Democrats including California Governor Gavin Newsom called for him to resign while House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Fine an “Islamophobic, disgusting and unrepentant bigot.”
Jeffries also called for Republicans — who hold a majority in both chambers of Congress — to hold Fine accountable.
“To ignore this is to accept and normalize it,” Democratic US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said. Fine’s past comments include calling for the mass expulsion of all Muslims from the US, labeling of Muslims as “terrorists” and the mocking of the starvation and killing of Palestinians in Gaza, among others. Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia in the US in recent years due to a range of factors including hard-line immigration policies and white-supremacist rhetoric, as well as the fallout of Israel’s war in Gaza on American society.
