Health Minister Koca: 53.74 percent of COVID-19 cases are in İstanbul

* Photo: Muhammed Selim Korkutata – Ankara/AA

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Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca addressed the reporters following a Coronavirus Science Board meeting in Ankara yesterday (July 1).

Sharing the latest figures about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Koca has announced that Turkey's death toll has risen to 5,150 as 19 new fatalities have been reported over the last 24 hours.

Turkey has registered 1,192 new cases of COVID-19 in the past day and total number of infections has reached 201,098, he has noted further.

While 2,311 people have recovered from the disease yesterday, bringing the total number to 175,422, healthcare professionals have reportedly conducted over 52,000 tests for the disease since June 30, raising the overall count to over 3.43 million since early March 2020.

Minister Koca has also shared the situation in particular cities, especially amid normalization in effect in the country for a month now:

'Marked increase in 5 provinces in 2 weeks'

"53.74 percent of cases have been diagnosed in İstanbul, which is in contact with all other cities.

"The past two weeks have seen a marked increase in the number of daily cases in five provinces: Ankara, Gaziantep, Bursa, Konya and Diyarbakır.

"Throughout the outbreak, the number of daily cases has been the lowest in five provinces: Gümüşhane, Tunceli, Kars, Burdur and Bartın.

"I would also like to mention our five provinces where the number of cases has been steadily decreasing, thereby setting an example to other provinces in terms of their success in implementing the measures:

"The average number of daily cases has dropped by 31.25 percent in Tekirdağ in the last two weeks while it has decreased by 21.72 percent in Balıkesir, by 20.42 percent in Samsun, by 20.27 percent in Kırşehir and by 19.91 percent in Düzce province. There have been no cases diagnosed in Gümüşhane over the last two weeks.

'Average age of intubated patients has risen'

"In the last two weeks, there is a marked decrease in the average age of COVID-19 patients. The majority of cases are in the 25-45 age group.

"Throughout the outbreak, almost 72 percent of all fatalities were over the age of 60 and had at least one underlying disease.

"With the recent surge in the number of our patients in intensive care over the past days, the average age of our intubated patients has also been increasing. While the average age of our intubated patients was 65.2 last month, it increased to 67.4 at the end of this month.

"The average age of the citizens who lost their lives between May 29 and June 29 is 74. The average age of intubated citizens is 67.4, that of the patients in intensive care is 64.9, that of the citizens treated in hospitals is 47.5, that of the ones followed up at home is 37.4 and the average age of the patients who have recovered is 36." (EKN/SD)