Turkey’s daily death toll has remained below 20 since July 16 as the coronavirus outbreak follows a somewhat uniform trend in the country. The number of new daily cases also hovers around the 1,000 mark. This is good news for the public but also gives false hope, according to authorities who are determined to maintain the measures, which have been successful in restraining the pandemic.
Experts urge people not to believe unproven reports that the virus has mutated and will not affect the human body. Associate professor Sema Turan, a member of the Health Ministry’s Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, says the virus’ severity in patients did not change since it first emerged in Turkey in March.
“We still see what a dramatic and bad state the patients found themselves in, in intensive care units, struggling to breathe properly,” Turan says.
Turkey reported 1,153 new COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths on Thursday while more patients recovered, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
Some 1,040 patients recovered in the same period, Koca said on his Twitter account, adding that there are still 580 patients in intensive care units.
A total of 220,546 patients have recovered in the country since the first case was announced. The total number of coronavirus cases in the country reached 237,265 with this latest update while a total of 5,798 people have died from the virus so far.
