The number of people in Turkey who died due to the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours has risen to 21, while the total number of confirmed cases now stands at 947, according to Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
Koca said in a tweet late on Saturday that 2,953 tests had been conducted in Turkey over the past 24 hours, 277 of which turned out to be positive. The number of confirmed cases was 670, while the number of victims was nine on Friday.
“We have lost 12 more of our elderly patients,” said the minister while calling on elderly people to comply with a partial curfew imposed by the government earlier in the day on the people above the age of 65.
First seen in the Chinese city of Wuhan, COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, has spread rapidly around the world, infecting nearly 300,000 people worldwide and killing more than 13,000.
The number of positive cases in Turkey could dramatically increase with the arrival of a 15-minute diagnosis kit from China last Friday and as the government gradually increases the number of labs from 16 to 36.