‘Number of COVID-19 cases has dropped by 20 percent in İstanbul’

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - Archive

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Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has announced that the number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases has dropped by 20 percent in İstanbul, the most populous city of the country, over the last week.

Minister has also indicated that the number of COVID-19 inpatients has fallen by 15 percent while the number of patients treated in intensive care units has decreased by 10 percent in the city.

Sharing a series of messages on his Twitter account on late December 18, Health Minister Koca briefly said the following:

"We made our routine evaluation with our provincial health executives and hospital chief physicians in İstanbul. The effects of the measures have started to be seen. The fall in the number of positive cases has hit 20 percent over the past week. We have seen its reflections at our hospitals.

"There has been a decrease of 30 percent at polyclinics, a decrease of 15 percent in the number of hospitalizations and 10 percent in intensive care ... The hospital bed occupancy is 55 percent and that of intensive care units is 65 percent. With their number increased from 658 to 1,934, our contact tracing teams have been extensively tracing close contacts.

"A joint compliance with measures and a struggle together have started to bear results. However, the rate of transmission at home has increased despite the fall in the number of daily cases.

"Don't stop paying attention to measures while staying home. Let's keep up our struggle without giving a break."

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Partial curfews announced in late November

Amid a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey, it was decided to impose a curfew on weeknights and full weekend curfews.

President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on November 30 announced new coronavirus restrictions, including a curfew on weeknights and full weekend curfews.

While the weekend curfews begin on Friday at 9 p.m. and end on Monday at 5 a.m, the curfew is in effect from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weekdays.

Turkey's death toll has topped 18 thousand

On the other side, according to the recent data announced by the Health Ministry yesterday evening (December 20), while the daily number of new cases is 20,316, the number of patients is 3,546.

246 people have lost their lives due to COVID-19 in Turkey in the last 24 hours. 21,218 people have recovered. While the total number of cases is 2,024,601 the death toll has reached 18,097 people.

While 5,347 patients are reportedly in critical condition, the rate of COVID-19 patients with pneumonia has been announced as 2.9 percent. (EKN/SD)