Covid-19: Turkey stops announcing number of intensive care patients after sharp increase

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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After a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive since the reopening in early June, the Health Ministry stopped disclosing figures on intensive care and intubated patients.

Instead, two new categories were included in today's (July 29) coronavirus table: the number of seriously ill patients and the proportion of patients with pneumonia, which were 542 and 9.4 percent, respectively.

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"From now on, the number of seriously ill patients will also be stated in the Turkey Daily Coronavirus Table, in accordance with the international standards," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter. "In addition to the number of new and total patients, pneumonia rate will also be shown for presenting detailed information about the process." 

Koca did not mention the absence of intensive care and intubation figures.

Table: Health Ministry

As of yesterday, there were 1,280 patients in intensive care, which amounted to 11.8 percent of active cases, and 403 patients on ventilators.

On June 1, when the government announced a series of reopening steps, including opening cafes, restaurants and recreation areas as well as lifting intercity travel restrictions, the number of intensive care patients was 651, or 2.8 percent of active cases.

Since then, the number of active cases has steadily decreased while intensive care patients have nearly doubled.

The total number of cases has reached 228,924 with 942 new infections over the past 24 hours while 996 people have been discharged from treatment, bringing the number of total recoveries to 212,557.

The country's death toll has risen to 5,659 as 14 people have died since yesterday's update.

With 45,712 new tests, the total number of tests has exceeded 4.7 million.

(VK)