Turkey’s coronavirus death toll hits 425, total cases 20,921

Duvar English

Turkey’s deaths from the coronavirus increased by 69 to 425 on April 3, as the number of confirmed cases rose by 2,786 to 20,921, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

Koca said 16,160 tests had been carried out in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests carried out in Turkey to 141,716 since the outbreak began.

The minister made the comments during a press conference on April 3, after chairing a meeting of the Health Ministry's Coronavirus Science Committee.

Koca also shared the coronavirus infection data on his Twitter account. "We have 69 new more patients who have recovered. Our loss number is less compared to yesterday. The whole picture tells us this: We should not be in contact, we should keep our distance, we should isolate ourselves. We can stop the spread of the virus by implementing the precautions," he wrote.

The number of newly infected people from a single coronavirus case is 16 on average in Istanbul, Koca said, adding that the "mobility of the young population is one of our weakest points."

He said the Science Coronavirus Committee has suggested more tightened measures to curb the spread of the virus in especially "risky areas" and this issue has been conveyed to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

There are currently 12,231 coronavirus cases in Istanbul, 1,105 cases in the western province of İzmir, 860 cases in capital Ankara, 601 cases in the Central Anatolian province of Konya and 500 cases in the western province of Kocaeli.

"There is a need for more tightened measures to limit the inter-city mobility. The mobility on the streets, especially in Istanbul, has not come to the desired level," Koca said.

"We have seen that the number of deaths above the age of 50 has increased and fatality rate is higher for men than for women," he said.

Koca also said that a member of the Coronavirus Science Committee has tested positive for the virus.