Turkish couple contracts coronavirus, husband dies

By Canan Tukelay

AFYONKARAHISAR, Turkey (AA) - Safiye Albayrak came out of the hospital a widow.

The 64-year-old Turkish woman was admitted to the hospital with her husband after they both contracted the coronavirus.

After a 14-day treatment at the health facility in the western province of Afyonkarahisar, Albayrak recovered but her husband succumbed to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Her husband, Omer had undergone lung surgery before he contracted the virus.

Recalling time spent at the hospital, she said: "They put me on a drip and gave me medicines every day."

“I felt their [doctors and nurses] support during the process,” she said.

“When I saw the motivation of doctors and nurses, I clung onto life even more,” she added.

The last time she saw her husband he was being taken to the intensive care unit.

He gave her his clothes and said: "You will return home before me."

“That moment, the whole world came crashing down on me. I got so emotional and cried,” she said.

“Because death was staring me in the face.”

She said she was not prepared for her husband's death as she was in a more critical condition than him.

“I was more worried about my husband than myself,” she said.

“We went to the hospital as two people, but only one of us returned," she added, advising people to stay at home.

Turkey's tally of infections is at 251,805, recoveries 232,913, and deaths 6,016.

*Writing by Sena Guler in Ankara