Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has announced that nine more people have died from the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 30 and the number of confirmed cases to 1,236.
Two hundred eighty-nine more people have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus since Saturday.
Koca said in tweets late on Sunday that a total of 20,345 tests have been conducted so far in Turkey and that there are 1,236 confirmed cases. The minister said all the victims were elderly people.
The number of confirmed cases was 947, while the number of victims was 21 on Saturday.
“We are losing new lives The number of cases is increasing. But it should be kept in mind that we conduct as many tests as possible. We mitigate the pandemic with every patient that has been put under treatment,” said the minister while calling on people to stay in their homes.
The first novel coronavirus case was confirmed in Turkey on March 11.
First seen in the Chinese city of Wuhan, COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, has spread rapidly around the world, infecting nearly 350,000 people worldwide and killing more than 14,000.