The daily number of infections caused by the novel coronavirus has continued to rise in Turkey since restrictions were loosened on June 1, as the country’s health minister announced on Sunday that 1,562 people were infected with the virus over the past 24 hours.
The country’s death toll reached 4,807 with 15 more people dying in the last day, according to a chart posted on Twitter by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
The total number of cases reached 178,239 with today’s infections, the chart indicated.
Among the hospitalized patients 717 are in intensive care, with 290 of them on ventilators, while 1,330 patients recovered over the past 24 hours.
“The number of recovered patients has fallen under the new infections. The need for intensive care and ventilators continues to rise. Our weakest point is optimism without preventative measures. Let’s be optimistic by observing the measures,” tweeted the minister.
Turkey has conducted in excess of 2.6 million tests, and more than 151,000 people have recovered from the virus.
Turkey reported the first COVID-19 case on March 11.
Turkey lifted restrictions on intercity travel and allowed restaurants, cafes, parks and sports facilities to reopen on June 1 after a sharp slowdown in the number of new cases and fatalities due to COVID-19.
Turkey reported the lowest number of daily infections on June 2 with 786, but the number of daily infections has been on an upward trajectory since then.