Turkey registered 914 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the total number to 170,132, while the death toll hit 4,692 with 23 more deaths over the past 24 hours, according to a chart posted on Twitter by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
The figures showed an upward trend in comparison to past days, indicating that the loosening of the anti-coronavirus measures since June 1 is leading to an increase in cases.
Koca warned people to comply with the social distancing rule, saying the ministry had found that a person diagnosed with COVID-19 had infected 190 others who had come to wish him a speedy recovery. In another instance cited by Koca, 58 people were infected when they got together to see a young man off to do his compulsory military service.
“The risk grows in the absence of measures,” Koca tweeted.
In many Turkish cities wearing a face mask when out in public is compulsory.
A total of 2,647 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, the chart indicated.
Turkey conducted 35,335 tests for coronavirus over the past day, bringing the overall number of tests carried out so far to 2,338,593.
The chart showed that 137,969 people have recovered in Turkey since the start of the outbreak, while 613 patients are in intensive care, 274 of whom are on ventilators.
Turkey reported its first COVID-19 case on March 11.