Hope rises as coronavirus infection rates fall by one-third in Turkey
The rate of infection by the novel coronavirus in Turkey has fallen by over a third from 15% to 9% in the past week, despite rising test numbers, with recoveries surging by more than threefold.
In Turkey, COVID-19 has been detected in 13.74% of people tested. In addition, despite the increase in the number of tests over the last week, the daily number of confirmed cases has decreased.
Follow the link below for some interesting coronavirus statistics for Turkey:
Turkey ranks seventh in the world for coronavirus testing
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Testing anyone with a cough or fever for COVID-19, the Health Ministry also ordered anyone who came in contact with a confirmed patient to be tested as well. (AFP Photo)
While governments across the globe struggle to increase their testing capabilities after realizing how widespread the COVID-19 pandemic is, Turkey ranked seventh worldwide in carrying out coronavirus tests.
According to this report in Hürriyet Daily News, officials are working on devising possible plans to pave the way for easing outbreak restrictions in light of the comments Health Minister Fahrettin Koca made recently when he said cases may plateau soon.
Turkey can reach the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in one week or 10 days, Koca said on April 17 following a meeting with the Science Board.
Fethiye Gerçek reports a total of 55 people were fined for violating the curfew over the weekend.
In a statement earlier, District Governor Şahiner said, “Gendarmerie and security penalties were imposed on 55 citizens who did not comply with the curfew restrictions.
Judicial action is being taken against one person caught ignoring the curfew on the first day.
Vefa Social Support Group also responded to 279 calls from citizens.
Massive new Istanbul hospital complex partially unveiled to combat pandemic
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Built on a square kilometer of land, Başakşehir City Hospital will have a capacity of 2,682 beds. (AA Photo)
A new hospital complex partially opened in Istanbul on Monday to assist in Turkey’s fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the maternity unit and children’s hospital in the complex were now open, adding that both would serve as pandemic hospitals until the outbreak crisis was over.
“All of the beds at Başakşehir City Hospital can be turned into ICU beds if needed,” Koca said, adding that the current units were all equipped with ventilators.
Turkey to ‘certificate’ coronavirus-free tourism destinations
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According to a report in Hürriyet Daily News, The Turkish government has launched an initiative to certificate coronavirus-free tourism resorts across the country, the culture and tourism minister has said.
“We have started the certification process to determine the coronavirus-free zones under a system,” Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told a private broadcaster on April 18.
“We will develop it stage by stage. First, we will develop an internationally accepted certification system,” he added, saying that a commission including officials from the health, transportation and agriculture ministries, held its first meeting last week with the coordination of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.
If things go to plan, the tourism minister also said that he expects domestic tourism traffic to resume in June after a relief from the measures to curb the pandemic towards “normalization” starts in mid-May.
“With deals with other countries, we will start flights under airport-based gradual timetables,” Ersoy said.
“At the first stage, I’m expecting incomings from the Asian countries. In the second stage, Germany and Austria will recover fast,” he added, also saying that tourists from central and northern European countries will follow them.
Russian and British tourists, who traditionally choose Turkey for holidays, can face difficulty to come until the end of July, said Ersoy.
