The DO YOU WANT TO DO A “CORONAVIRUS” CONTROL online application, which the Ministry of Health has started with the aim of pre-evaluating new coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms and advising to visit a health facility in case the preliminary assessment is positive, as well as conducting statistical studies with the information entered, can be accessed at the following address.

Within the framework of the “personnel-service efficiency” measures taken by the Support Services Department in accordance with the changing service processes with the threat of the new Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19); Morning-evening transportation from Bakırköy İDO-Marmaray to the campuses and personnel service between all campuses are carried out by using only 2 IKU service vehicles per hour / demand and vehicle facilities.
With the temporary arrangements made at the security points of our campuses, 17 private security officers have been granted annual leaves.

We are all passengers of the same boat! We were caught in a violent storm. Staying healthy and healthy depends not only on one of us, but on each of us to be knowledgeable, conscious and responsible. It is as if the virus wants to teach us to give up our individual closeness and selfishness, and take responsibility for each other. As the world, we experience a tough test... The important thing is to get healthy from this exam! We have all read, learned, and apply what needs to be done for our physical health. However, it is extremely important to protect our mental health in this difficult period. Here are a few suggestions for mental protection:

Instead of feeling sorry for our situation and saying "ahh, wow!" and pitying ourselves, we can look at what lessons we will learn from this event. How did I contribute to this situation: eg. using more of the world resources (water, electricity, consumption, travel, etc.) What can I differentiate in my life so far? What can I cut down, what can I give up? What do I overdo, maybe overfeed, buy more? How much do I protect my environment?

Remember that hard times are also temporary. The spread of the virus will decrease, quarantine will end, and we will return to our daily lives, habits, and what we enjoy doing. But let it be what we have learned from this arduous journey! The challenges are developer and enlarger. Let's see what we will learn from this challenging adventure. Hope is the rope that keeps us alive, believe and never let go. Viktor Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning), who survived the Nazi camps in 1945, was asked “How could you survive?” and he said: "I have never stopped believing."

Expert Advisor Psychologist Leyla Navaro

Diseases such as neurological diseases (MS, Parkinson, Stroke etc.), cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, metabolic syndrome constitute chronic diseases are the ones that are not contagious but affect all societies today and the number of people affected by chronic diseases have been increasing day by day. While people with chronic diseases have many points to consider in daily life, they should be more careful in the new type of corona virus pandemic, which has become a global health problem. Our elderly are at greater risk in this period, for both the damage caused by the corona virus pandemic is higher in individuals over 65 years of age and chronic diseases are more common in the elderly population; that’s why, people with chronic diseases should continue their lives with a little more attention, especially in this process. The fact that the immune system of such patients is weaker than other individuals is one of the most important reasons that increase the risk of infection. The most suitable behavior to be done in this process will be to keep our immune system strong and also to keep our general health status at a high level. For this reason, we need to pay attention to regular and healthy living principles.

It is essential to reduce alcohol and smoking, obtain proper eating habits, pay attention to a healthy night's sleep and keep our physical activity level high. Exercise treatments, which have a very important place for many chronic diseases, should be continued without interruption in this period. As long as the pandemic risk continues, instead of doing our exercises in public areas, we should try to do it in areas that both provide more open air and secluded places such as the garden of our house, if possible.

Drug treatments used for chronic diseases must be continued; treatment should not be interrupted without the doctor's recommendation; and wrong behaviors such as changing drug doses should not be performed. If you have question marks about all the medical tests and examinations planned to be performed, it is necessary to act by discussing with the doctor who is following the patient. It should not be forgotten that the authorized person who will decide the specificity of the course and treatment of the disease is the patient's own doctor.

For the risk of transmission of corona virus is very high,  we should spend the big time of the day at home by keeping ourselves away from crowded environments, and we should pay attention to our personal hygiene. It will be the best way  in this period to follow the news and announcements made by the competent authorities and act in line with their direction.

Hope to have healthy days that we can embrace as soon as possible…

Research Assistant Gamze Ertürk Uzunoğlu

Faculty of Health Sciences

Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation

Information is taken by HASUDER (Public Health Experts Association) COVID-19 page, supported by Public Health Specialist Assist. Prof.  Meltem Akın Dikleli, faculty member of the Faculty of Health Sciences of our university.

The spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) has been mapped out as an exponential curve, an image that has experts worried about containing the spread of the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that one of the best ways to slow down the spread — or flatten the curve — is to practice social distancing.

-Seven new countries / regions reported COVID-19 cases. (Africa Region [3], Eastern Mediterranean Region [1], European Region [1] and America Region [2])

- The number of confirmed cases worldwide has exceeded 200 thousand. It took more than 3 months to reach the first 100 thousand cases, and it took only 12 days to reach the next 100 thousand.

- A new  protocol has been developed to investigate the degree of COVID-19 infection in the population, as determined by positive antibody tests in the general population. The protocol was called "Population-based age-bedded seroepidemiological research protocol for COVID-19 virus infection".

- The World Health Organization (WHO), changed Turkey's position as “Local Propagation" in the COVID-19 spread-classification.

- The number of reference laboratories which studied for samples will increase from 16 to 18, and will increase to 36 in 25 provinces in a short time,

- With the thermal camera application, 4 million 603 thousand passengers in the airports, 15 thousand 200 passengers at the maritime boundaries were screened,

- 103 out of 189 thousand passengers who have been subjected to thermal camera control at the land border gates were taken under surveillance at the established field hospitals, 189 people were transferred to the hospital,

- If the disease spreads throughout the country and becomes an epidemic, there is a total of 25 thousand 466 adult intensive care capacity, 13 thousand 211 of which from private sector, and in this case, both of the sectors are prone to serve the citizens.

-In hospitals, a total of 99 thousand 797 patient rooms are single occupancy and suitable for use as isolation or intensive care beds,

- The diagnostic kit which is used for screening has been sent to all provinces and verification will be made in reference laboratories when it is positive,

- 372 thousand people have come from abroad since March 1 and they have been followed by their family physicians,

- They have started to take measures to protect health personnel from risk,

- Reported that 50 thousand masks were sent to six universities.

In addition to that, Ministry of Health has declared that the visitors will not be admitted to the Ministry's headquarters and annex buildings from March 20, 2020 due to the pandemic.