The number of people who have died from the novel coronavirus in Turkey has hit 2,017, increasing by 127, while the country’s confirmed cases increased by 3,977 to reach 86,306 in the last 24 hours, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Sunday.
The total number of people who have recovered stands at 11,976, and 35,344 tests were conducted over the last 24 hours, according to a chart Koca posted on Twitter.
“The attention you pay to the [anti-coronavirus] measures is yielding results. While we are increasing the number of tests conducted, your responsible behavior will decrease the number of new cases. Trust in the power of our healthcare army and the healthcare system. Never give up on the measures,” Koca tweeted.
The chart showed that a total of 634,277 tests have been conducted in Turkey since the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in the country on March 11.
Turkey is among the top 10 countries in the world when it comes to confirmed coronavirus cases, and its toll is increasing by more than 4,000 cases per day. The mortality rate has been much lower here than elsewhere, which has raised eyebrows.
The Turkish Medical Association (TMA) says Turkey’s official coronavirus death statistics do not include cases that strongly indicate COVID-19 but test negative.
Turkey has not implemented a full lockdown, and curfews are imposed in 31 major cities only on the weekends. People aged 65 and above as well as those 20 and below are prohibited from going outside as part of measures to contain the epidemic.
First seen in the Chinese city of Wuhan, COVID-19 has spread rapidly around the world, infecting over 2,373,088 people worldwide and killing at least 163,641. Some 611,827 people have recovered, according to Worldometers.info.