As the new omicron variant continues its spread, Turkish Airlines carried out evacuation flights from South Africa on Saturday after Turkey implemented travel restrictions and flight bans on the country.
As many as 41 passengers were evacuated in flights from South Africa's largest two cities, Cape Town and Johannesburg, to the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul, an official with the airline told Anadolu Agency (AA) on condition of anonymity.
Passengers will spend 14 days in quarantine regardless of their vaccination statuses or recent infection with the virus. A negative PCR test will be required to end isolation in places determined by the local governorate.
The Turkish Embassy in Pretoria said on Twitter that the Turkish Airlines flights would mark the last from South Africa to Turkey until further notice.
"Travel from Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe to our country through all our land, air, sea and rail border crossings will not be allowed as of tonight," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a statement on Twitter.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the new COVID-19 strain from southern Africa a "variant of concern," naming it omicron.
The United Kingdom has also suspended flights from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, whereas European Union member states have agreed to introduce rapid restrictions on all travel from these countries as well as Mozambique.
Koca recently stated that Turkey does not intend to implement any further lockdowns or closures to manage the pandemic's reach, instead placing "great importance on individual precautions ... particularly vaccinations," as he answered questions from the press after the Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Complex.
Europe is on the verge of another shutdown with many countries already announcing new lockdown measures. When asked about whether new restrictions and measures were on the agenda in Turkey, Koca stated that no such steps were planned.
"In the new period in Turkey, we do not plan to manage the pandemic with closures. In the new period, we attach great importance to personal precautions and especially vaccination," he said and added, "We think that it is very important for everyone to be vaccinated."
When asked about the progress of the antiviral pill, molnupiravir, which is set to be used to treat COVID-19 patients, Koca noted that many drugs were used during the pandemic and that their efficacies would become clearer with time.
According to official figures released on Saturday, Turkey has administered over 120 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched an immunization drive in January.
More than 56.1 million people have received a first vaccine dose and over 50.3 million have been fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said.
Turkey has also given third booster shots to more than 12 million people.
Meanwhile, work for the domestically developed vaccine Turkovac is ongoing, with Phase 3 trials of the jab almost complete.
Speaking in the capital Ankara during the Planning and Budget Commission meeting at Parliament, Koca announced on Wednesday that the emergency authorization application for the domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine Turkovac had been submitted to the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (TITCK).
The vaccine, previously known as ERUCOV-VAC, is an inactive COVID-19 vaccine. A similar jab, CoronaVac developed by Chinese firm Sinovac, had formed the backbone of the country's vaccination program before messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines were available in greater numbers.
In a separate statement, Koca previously shared that Turkey will donate 10 million vaccine doses through the COVAX mechanism to get vaccines to underdeveloped countries.
The health minister and the WHO's Europe director, Dr. Hans Kluge, also had a phone call in which the latter praised Turkey's solidarity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We can only manage this pandemic with solidarity. As we face a difficult winter, I am grateful to @drfahrettinkoca & Turkey for the generous offer to receive #COVID19 patients if needed, to support European countries with overwhelmed health systems & ICUs," Kluge wrote on Twitter.
"Turkey has set a positive example of global solidarity, providing 160 countries and 29 international organizations with #COVID19 supplies, as well as donating over 2 million doses of vaccine to 11 countries since the pandemic began. My thanks to Dr. Koca and Turkey," he added.
On Twitter, Koca said that the pandemic has lasted longer than expected and acknowledged that people feel demoralized and demotivated, however, the reality of the infection and death rates remain.
"With the high number of cases and deaths, the truth is in front of us, again and again, every day. We cannot ignore COVID-19," Koca added, calling for a determined fight against the pandemic.
Health care workers, who have received two doses of an inactivated vaccine and a booster shot of an mRNA or inactivated vaccine, will be able to get another shot, Koca said in a statement after a Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board meeting.
During the meeting, the health minister said treatments used in epidemic management have been reassessed, and discussions on the use of antiviral drug Favipiravir were addressed.
"The data collected by our ministry was discussed in our scientific committee meeting, and it was clearly demonstrated that the drug does not have any significant side effects," he said.
Apart from their efforts to develop Turkovac, Turkish scientists are also working non-stop to help the globe battle against COVID-19 with their studies.
One such study, which was carried out by Istanbul University's Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, has proven that vitamin D supplementation proved effective in reducing fatalities and hospitalizations in COVID-19 patients.
The study, of which the results were published in Nutrients journal, was conducted on 210 coronavirus cases being treated at Cerrahpaşa’s hospital. It found that COVID-19 fatalities among patients given vitamin D supplements fell by more than twice and the duration of hospital stays also reduced by 1.9 times.
As part of the study, 163 of the 210 patients were administered vitamin D while the rest were not given the supplements. The supplements raised the level of the vitamin to over 30 nanogram/deciliters (ng-dl) in those who were part of the experimental group.
The study’s authors say that vitamin D was already used in the treatment of tuberculosis and pointed out earlier cross-sectional studies that associated low vitamin D levels with an increased rate or severity of various infections from influenza to bacterial vaginosis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). They say the vitamin has the ability to regulate immune response and mitigate the course of acute infections.
Professor Mustafa Sait Gönen, the study’s coordinator and dean of the faculty, says they measured vitamin D levels among patients and administered supplements for 14 days to patients with low levels of the vitamin.
“We also examined the data of 867 COVID-19 patients. In the end, we concluded that the supplementation reduced death rate and hospital stays,” he told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Friday. An earlier study abroad did not find that people with higher levels of vitamin D were at lower risk of coronavirus infection, hospitalization or experiencing more severe symptoms of the disease.
Gönen says their study highlights that the vitamin should be included in treatment programs for coronavirus. “Vitamins are essential for organisms but they are mostly supplied through food intake. Vitamin D is an exception and its levels are low in foods. Most vitamin D can be derived via sunlight and thus, it is important to be exposed to sunlight, at least between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. in summers, up to three times a week and for periods up to 20 minutes,” he stressed.
Gönen said vitamin levels were low especially in big cities and among people working in buildings with low levels of sunlight exposure. However, he warns that excessive vitamin D supplementation also has side effects, like kidney stones and early aging.
