Turkey announced 1,192 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, 64 fewer than yesterday, bringing the total number of cases to 249,309, according to a chart posted on Twitter by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
“12,336 people are still actively carrying the disease. That means they have the potential to infect others,” Koca tweeted, warning the public to protect themselves from the risk outside their homes.
The COVID-19 death toll, meanwhile, increased by 19 to 5,974 in the last 24 hours, the chart indicated.
Beginning three weeks ago, 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 increased by 11 to 679, 7.6 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, 997 more people were declared to have recovered on Sunday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 230,969.
Turkey has conducted 5,725,242 tests so far, with 65,956 more in the last 24 hours.
On average, the country conducts some 65,000 tests per 1 million of population, while the figure for the developed countries is over 100,000.
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.