In his daily Twitter briefing on Friday Turkey’s health minister, Fahrettin Koca, said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases had increased to 670, while five more people had died, bringing the total number deaths to nine.
“All [the deceased] were elderly. Let’s protect them. We must show resolve in our fight [against the virus],” Koca tweeted, adding that in the last 24 hours 3,656 tests had been conducted.
First seen in the Chinese city of Wuhan, COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, has spread rapidly around the world, infecting nearly 270,000 people worldwide and killing more than 11,000.
Today President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan joined the Turkish public in lauded the health sector workers in their efforts to handle the global pandemic, praising them in front of his palace at 9 p.m. local time.