Covid-19 in Turkey: Average Age of the Deceased 74.6 as Death Toll Hits 4,648, Says Minister

The elderly are allowed go out four hours a week. (Photo: AA)

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Turkey's coronavirus tally has reached 4,648 deaths and 168,340 cases, according to the Health Ministry figures.

The ministry reported 18 deaths and 930 new cases for the past 24 hours.

Healthcare professionals did 57,829 tests for the virus in the past 24 hours, raising the total number to more than 2.26 million.

The total number of recoveries from the disease reached 133,400 as 1,622 more patients were discharged from hospitals over the past day.

Average age

Earlier in the day, Minister Fahrettin Koca stated that 93 percent of the people in Turkey claimed by coronavirus were 65 or older, the country's health minister said on Friday.

"The average age of people who died over the past month is 74.6," Fahrettin Koca told ambassadors of 26 EU countries via video link in a briefing on the virus.

He added that "93 percent of total deaths were age 65 or older."

As Turkey has eased its Covid-19 restrictions, its medical tourism sector has also revived, as over 1,000 healthcare tourists have visited the country in the last 10 days, Koca said, according to a Health Ministry statement released after the meeting.

Turkey reopened its borders to medical tourists from all nations as of May 28.

With patients from abroad drawn by both its high-quality service and lower prices, in 2018 Turkey earned some $1.5 billion from medical tourism.

"Early treatment"

Thanks to early treatment protocols, the percentage of inpatients developing pneumonia plummeted from 60 percent to 3 percent, he said, adding that it also led to a sharp drop in the rate of deaths in intensive care units from 58 percent to 7 percent.

Highlighting that Turkey kept the elderly under strict protection at home since the beginning of the outbreak, Koca said these measures proved effective by producing a lower mortality rate for the elderly.

Daily cases, deaths and tests reported by the Health Ministry:

(EKN/VK)