A degree of poetic justice here:
Doctors are warning that new cases of Covid-19 in Turkey are rising far faster than official figures suggest, with up to 3,000 people likely to have been infected during the first prayers at the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque last month.
President Erdogan said that 350,000 people had descended on Istanbul for the event on July 24, which marked the conversion of the historic building back into a mosque after 86 years as a museum. Social distancing measures were in place inside the building and the immediate surrounding area, but beyond the police barricades people were closely packed in the streets.
At least four officials from Mr Erdogan’s AK Party, who were among 500 people invited inside the mosque, have since been diagnosed with the virus….
Sarp Uner, a professor of public health, has estimated that up to 3,000 people are likely to have been infected at the event, based on current infection rates and the likelihood of transmission….
“I believe that the [Hagia Sophia] gathering will increase the cases in Istanbul . . . It is certain that more difficult days await us,” Professor Uner told the Anka news agency.
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