Interview: Turkish specialist praises China's anti-pandemic measures

ISTANBUL, March 17 (Xinhua) -- A leading Turkish specialist on infectious diseases and clinical microbiology praised China's COVID-19 prevention and control measures that prioritize public health.

China has been successfully integrating the coronavirus restrictions that regulate social life with its vaccination efforts, always putting public health in the first place, Bulent Ertugrul, an expert from Reyap Hospital in Istanbul, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The vaccination campaign is at the heart of China's struggle against the coronavirus, and it is the country that has administered the most vaccines in the world," Ertugrul said.

"But, instead of being satisfied with this high vaccination rate, China is still one of the rare countries which apply restrictions, take measures...to prevent the pandemic from spreading faster," he added.

Facing a new spike in daily COVID-19 cases, China has recently re-boosted its control measures, imposing strict travel restrictions in some parts of the country.

According to Ertugrul, the increase in the number of cases is actually not something unique to China as there are similar case booms in many other European countries affected particularly by the Omicron variant.

"There will be periodic increases in the number of cases, some will be hospitalized...we will lose some of them, unfortunately," Ertugrul said.