DM Monitoring
ANKARA: Turkey’s Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu were tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.
“I have reached the final stage in the coronavirus treatment, and I had it with mild symptoms. I’m fine right now,” Kalin tweeted earlier in the day.
Soylu and his family are under treatment in a hospital after being tested positive for COVID-19, the minister tweeted on Saturday. They are under treatment on doctor’s advice after feeling sick on Monday, according to Soylu. Turkey reported 2,213 new COVID-19 patients on Saturday, raising the tally in the country to 375,367.
In addition, 75 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 10,252, while 1,506 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 323,971, according to the Health Ministry.
The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients is five percent while the number of seriously ill patients is 2,075, the ministry said. Turkey conducted 124,109 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 14,001,814.
Turkey reported its first COVID-19 case on March 11. Turkey and China have supported each other in the fight against COVID-19. Chinese doctors and medical experts held video conferences with Turkish counterparts to share China’s experience in treating coronavirus patients, protecting medical workers, and controlling the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Saturday that the death toll in the strong earthquake that hit Turkey’s western province of Izmir has increased to 35.
Speaking to reporters in Izmir, Koca said 243 people are under treatment in the hospitals, while eight others in intensive care units, three of whom are in critical condition. Koca said earlier that at least 885 people were wounded in the tremor, which struck the Aegean Sea off the Seferihisar district on Friday. The minister also urged citizens in the disaster areas to strictly follow the coronavirus-related rules to reduce the infection risk.
Meanwhile, rescue teams saved a mother and her three children from rubble 23 hours after the earthquake.
Another citizen was rescued from the debris of an apartment building 26 hours after the quake, according to press reports.
Rescue operations are continuing nonstop to reach more survivors trapped in the ruins.
