Covid-19 severity increases in Turkey as one out of every 10 patients is in intensive care now

Photo: AA, Graphics: bianet

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After the reopening steps on June 1, the proportion of Covid-19 patients in intensive care rose from 2 percent to 10 percent.

In this period, the number of active cases fell from around 30 thousand to less than 12 thousand, while the number of patients in intensive care nearly doubled.

There was also an increase in the number of patients intubated and hospitalized after diagnosis. The number of intubated patients, which was 281 on 1 June, increased to 378 as of yesterday (23 July).

According to the weekly situation reports published by the Ministry of Health, the rate of hospitalized cases reached 79 percent in the week of July 6-12. At the time of the publication of the report, there were about 206,000 total cases and 110,000 hospitalizations.

The number of hospitalizations declined in the week of July 13 - July 19. In the last three weeks, there were 8,563 new cases and 4,922 hospitalizations, 7,182 new cases and 5,672 hospitalizations and 6,629 cases and 3,707 hospitalizations, respectively.

In a statement on July 17 the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) also noted the increase in the number of intensive care patients and stated that although the daily number of cases fell below a thousand, the severity of the cases increased.

Pointing out that only those who showed symptoms were tested, the TTB suggested that the test strategy should be revised in the reopening period to include people at risk and people with asymptomatic infection.

Recoveries are higher than new cases

The data released by the Ministry of Health shows that the number of daily cases, which remained below a thousand before re-opening, rose again towards the middle of June and continued between 1,200 and 1,500 until mid-July. The number of daily recoveries has not fallen below new cases since June 30.

No significant change has been observed in the number of daily deaths in the reopening process. Since June 1, the lowest number of daily fatalities was 15, and the highest was 24.

The number of cases, which was 164 thousand on 1 June, is over 220,000 as of yesterday. The number of those who recovered increased from 128 thousand to 205,000 within the same period. The number of those who lost their lives exceeded 5,000.

(VK)