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

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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.

Coronavirus reopening in Turkey

Turkey's easing of coronavirus measures started as early as on May 11, when the government reopened shopping malls, albeit with new physical distancing and hygiene rules. This was followed by more steps on June 1, including the reopening of cafes, restarurants and similar places, as well as parks, beaches and recration areas.

On the same day, entry and exit restrictions for 15 larger provinces, including İstanbul and Ankara, were lifted and domestic flights resumed.

On June 5, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan abruptly lifted the weekend curfew for the 15 provinces, which was declared by the Interior Ministry about 12 hours before. The weekend curfews had been in place since April 11.

The President further announced on June 9 that people over the age of 65 would be allowed to go out between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. A curfew was declared for the elderly on March 22. Those younger than 18 were also allowed to go out on the condition of being with their parents.

The government also resumed international flights on June 11 and announced that all tourism facilities, theaters and concert halls would reopen on July 1.

(VK)