Turkey announced 1,185 new coronavirus cases on Friday, 32 more than yesterday, bringing the total number of cases to 238,450, according to a chart posted on Twitter by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
The COVID-19 death toll, meanwhile, increased by 15 to 5,813 in the last 24 hours, the chart indicated.
“The increase in new cases is continuing. The number of recovered patients, like yesterday, is fewer than the number of new cases. … We need to be CAUTIOUS until the number decreases,” Koca tweeted.
Beginning last week, the health ministry chart no longer showed the number of intensive care patients and those on ventilators but instead reported the number of patients in critical condition and the percentage of patients among all cases who have developed pneumonia due to the coronavirus.
Today’s chart indicated that the number of patients in critical condition is down to 586, 8.3 percent of whom have developed pneumonia.
Since COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, in severe cases it causes pneumonia. According to experts, some 15 percent of coronavirus cases are severe, and nearly 5 percent of patients need ventilators to breathe.
Meanwhile, 1,028 more people were declared to have recovered on Thursday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 221,574.
Turkey has conducted 5,138,528 tests so far, with 56,726 more in the last 24 hours.
On average, the country conducts some 59,500 tests per 1 million of population, better than countries like the Netherlands and France but far worse than the UK, the US and Germany.
Turkey reported its first COVID-19 case on March 11. The country eased preventative measures at the start of June, opening shopping malls, cafes, restaurants and mosques.