The number of people who become infected with the novel coronavirus per day has for the first time since March 30 fallen below 2,000, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Saturday, while 78 more people died over the past 24 hours due to COVID-19, according to Turkish media reports.
A total of 1,983 more people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, according to a chart posted on Twitter by the minister.
The chart showed that the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 had risen to 3,336 as of Saturday, while to total number of COVID-19 cases in the country totals 124,375.
According to the data 4,451 people were released from hospitals in the past 24 hours, bringing the number of recovered patients to 58,259.
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 over as well as those 20 and under 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 3,467,672 people worldwide and killing at least 243,788 as of Saturday. Some 1,113,862 people have recovered, according to Worldometers.info.