Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said late Wednesday that Turkey has seen a five-fold increase in COVID-19 cases.
“There is over a five-fold rise in the daily number of COVID-19 cases and 55% increase in deaths compared to the previous peak in April,” Koca said speaking after the meeting of the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board in Ankara.
“The total number of coronavirus tests reached 20 million and our positive case numbers exceeded 1.5 million. Of these, 550,000 went through a visible sickness,” Koca said.
Turkey’s daily coronavirus deaths rose to a record 217 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 15,531.
For four months, Ankara only reported daily symptomatic cases but is now reporting all cases since Nov. 25. Koca said the government would publish historical data for all cases starting Thursday.
Turkey reported 31,712 more coronavirus infections, including 6,213 symptomatic patients, over the past 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data released Wednesday.
