Front Page Headlines
‘The four walls of a room can’t treat patients’
Infectious Diseases expert and Microbiologist Dr Emre Vudalı who works at the Coronavirus ward claims it’s not enough to build hospitals but you need to assign staff to such hospitals. “We are currently four infectious diseases experts and seven pulmonologists, 11 doctors working in total at the coronavirus ward,” he said. “We are going through a critical period. We need to adopt scientific, not political decisions at such a time,” Vudalı stressed.
- Three cases in the south, 32 in the north
- Rebirth Party (YDP) MP Bertan Zaroğlu to receive treatment in Turkey.
Calling on health workers to volunteer
32 new coronavirus cases were detected in the north yesterday (Saturday). Health Minister Ali Pilli called to duty doctors and nurses who want to volunteer in light of the increase in local transmission cases. Pilli also noted that stricter measures will be implemented due to the spike in the number of cases. Ali Özgöçmen, General Secretary of the Nurses and Midwives Union said the one more nurse has been infected with coronavirus raising the number to four.
- “I am in favour of a diplomatic solution” – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who visited the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, pointed to the escalating tension in the Eastern Mediterranean and said there has to be an agreement on maritime matters.
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Crisis forced him
Health Minister Ali Pilli called on doctors and nurses who want to volunteer to duty. 32 new cases in a single day. Health Minister Ali Pilli who visited the pandemic ward at the hospital in Nicosia as a result of a surge in cases asked doctors and nurses who want to volunteer to apply to the health ministry. “Everyone must take their own precautions,” Pilli warned the public. Health Ministry Undersecretary Ali Çaygur who spoke to Diyalog said that seven new cases had been detected in the 300 PCR tests carried out at the Historic Kyrenia harbour.
- Negotiation condition – Anastasiades who met with Pompeo asked for Turkey’s activities in the Eastern Mediterranean to be halted.
Doctors have had enough
The team assigned with fighting coronavirus made up of 11 doctors and a handful of nurses are unable to cope with the increase in case numbers. The doctors in addition to treating nearly 200 positive cases and keeping an eye on 700 people, who have come into contact with positive cases, are also tasked with carrying out their daily shifts at the pulmonology ward and the ER. The doctors gave the government a 24-hour deadline to increase the number of doctors and the hospital’s bed capacity or threatened to walk out from the pandemic ward.
- 32 more cases in the north – 2254 tests were conducted in the north identifying 32 positive cases. In 2320 tests done in the south only three new cases identified.
- Health Minister Pilli looking for doctors to volunteer
- “They are treating me like this on purpose” – Rebirth Party (YDP) MP Bertan Zaroğlu said. He will be treated in Turkey.
Main News
TC side angered that Pompeo not meeting Akıncı
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog, Avrupa
Negotiations Process, Energy, Regional/International Relations
OVERVIEW
President Mustafa Akıncı said it was wrong of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to not meet with him during his visit to Cyprus on Saturday.
According to his spokesman Barış Burcu, Akıncı told the US ambassador Judith Garber over the phone that Pompeo should have sought a meeting with him, just as the former secretary of state John Kerry did during his visit to the island in late 2015.
Burcu said the ambassador offered Akıncı a phone call with Pompeo but the former rejected the option as it was ‘insufficient and inappropriate’.
Garber told Akıncı, Pompeo would be unable to meet with him due to time constraints, Burcu said.
“The problems in the Eastern Mediterranean cannot be helped by only receiving or meeting with the Greek Cypriot side and obtaining unilateral information,” Burcu added.
He said that the US’s stance was only serving to further embolden the Greek Cypriot side and its negative stance.
“This is a great mistake on US diplomacy’s part which claims to work to solving disputes,” Burcu added.
“This is unacceptable for the Turkish Cypriot side.”
Burcu said that the Turkish Cypriot side had expressed the same dissatisfaction regarding the High Representative to the EU Josep Borrell’s failure to meet with Akıncı during his visit to Cyprus in June.
KEY ACTORS
Akıncı
>> A phone call, rather than a visit by Pompeo is ‘insufficient & inappropriate’.
>> Problems in the East Med cannot be helped by only receiving or meeting with the GC side & obtaining unilateral information.
>> US’s stance only serves to embolden GC side & its negative stance.
Coronavirus cases in the north continue to rise at an alarming rate
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Havadis, Diyalog, Avrupa
Internal Security
OVERVIEW
The number of coronavirus cases in the north rose to 32 between Friday and Saturday evening during which time 2,254 tests were carried out, raising the alarm for health experts and the authorities.
According to a statement issued late Saturday by health minister Ali Pilli, of the 32 new cases, two arrived in the north by air and one by sea. Fifteen were identified through contact tracing and 14 were local cases.
Five people were discharged from hospital on Saturday.
The total number of cases in the north stood at 573 with 108 people being treated in hospital – none in ICU – and 135 people in quarantine hotels.
The total number of tests carried out in the north to date clocks in at 140,284.
Doctors on Saturday warned of strikes, stating that they were exhausted and overstretched urging the authorities to take stricter measures.
Although measures and restrictions have been tightened, a number of places were booked on Friday night and Saturday for Covid violations.
Seven individuals tested positive for Covid-19 from the 300 PCR tests carried at on the public at the historic Kyrenia harbour raising fears that local transmission cases are higher than believed.
Meanwhile, Rebirth Party (YDP) MP Bertan Zaroğlu on Saturday night caused a frenzy on social media after accusing staff at the general hospital in Nicosia of purposely mistreating him for his political views and orientation.
Zaroğlu who was admitted to hospital earlier in the week after testing positive for Covid-19 but later who moved to a quarantine hotel was readmitted on Saturday after his condition worsened.
The YDP MP filmed a messy hospital bed where he was to be treated, claiming that staff had deliberately given him an unclean room and bed because of his political views and because he was originally from Turkey.
Zaroğlu’s post was slammed and mocked by hundreds, who criticized him for his comments and claims.
Tatar slams final declaration adopted at Med 7 summit
Yenidüzen, Kıbrıs, Diyalog, Avrupa
EU Matters, Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
“The possibility of reaching an agreement on the Cyprus problem will decrease as long as the European Union (EU) continues to spoil the Greek Cypriot side and Greece,” Prime Minister Ersin Tatar said on Saturday.
Tatar’s remarks came in response to the final declaration issued the 6th Summit of the MED7.
“The remarks on the Eastern Mediterranean and the Cyprus issue are far from reality,” Tatar said in a written statement, arguing that the decisions were biased in favour of the Greek Cypriot side.
“The decisions adopted with pressure from France in light of its attempts to have a say in the developments in the Eastern Mediterranean will neither contribute to de-escalating tensions in the region nor will it contribute to efforts in finding a solution to the Cyprus problem,” Tatar stressed.
Inviting the EU to act with prudence, Tatar said the Turkish Cypriot community’s trust in the EU continued to erode as a result of such biased decisions.
“The reality is that both Greece and the Greek Cypriot side are trying to disregard the Turkish Cypriot people’s sovereignty and their sovereign rights, contrary to the claims made in the declaration on Turkey’s threats,” he said.
“As long as the EU spoils Greece and the Greek Cypriot side, it is not possible to reach an agreement on the island,” Tatar concluded.
KEY ACTORS
Tatar (UBP)
>> The possibility of reaching an agreement on the Cyprob will decrease as long as the EU continues to spoil the GC side & Greece.
>> The remarks on the East Med & the Cyprus issue made in MED7 final declaration are far from reality.
>> The decisions are biased & in favour of the GC side.
>> The decisions adopted with pressure from France will neither contribute to de-escalating tensions in the region nor will it contribute to efforts in finding a solution to the Cyprob.
>> The EU must act with prudence.
>> TC community’s trust in the EU erodes as a result of its biased decisions.
>> The reality is that both Greece & the GC side are trying to disregard the TC people’s sovereignty & their sovereign rights, contrary to the claims made in the declaration on Turkey’s threats.
>> As long as the EU spoils Greece & the GC side, it is not possible to reach an agreement on the island.