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Turkey's death toll in the coronavirus pandemic has climbed to 37 as 293 more people tested positive for the diease, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has announced.
Turkey condcted 3,627 tests in the last 24 hours, he said in a tweet. With this latest update, the country's total tally reached 1,529 cases.
The disease has spread "all over Turkey now," Koca told a press conference earlier, after an hours-long meeting of a science committee affiliated with the ministry.
Medicine, quick test kits have been imported from China
Turkey has also imported an "effective" medicine from China to provide quicker help to Covic-19 patients, the minister informed. Other steps in Turkey's efforts include the appointment of 32 thousand new healthcare personnel, he added.
Koca said that all materials needed to diagnose and treat the disease will be provided to all hospitals, adding that "50 thousand quick diagnostic kits came from China in the morning," and 300 thousand additional kits will arrive on Thursday (March 26).
"In the coming days we will be announcing the number of recovering cases every day. I want to note that we have a large number of people who have recovered," Koca stressed.
Saying most of the victims in Turkey to date have been elderly, Koca explained two were age 50-60, one was 91, and all the others were older than 61.
Turkey confirmed its first case on March 11 and the first death on March 17.
The novel coronavirus outbreak began in China's Wuhan city in December and has so far affected more than 160 countries and territories around the world, according to data compiled by Washington University in the US. It infected over 360 thousand people and killed more than 16 thousand. WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic on March 11.
Map: Washington University |
About the novel coronavirusWhat is a coronavirus? Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. In humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The most recently discovered coronavirus causes coronavirus disease Covid-19. What is Covid-19? Covid-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. How does Covid-19 spread? People can catch Covid-19 from others who have the virus. The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with Covid-19 coughs or exhales. These droplets land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch Covid-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. Can the new coronavirus be transmitted through the air? Studies to date suggest that the virus that causes Covid-19 is mainly transmitted through contact with respiratory droplets rather than through the air. Source: World Health Organization |
(EKN/VK)
