Turkey's daily coronavirus death toll jumps over 100 for the first time

Duvar English

Turkey’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by 107 to total 1,403 and new confirmed cases rose by 4,062 to bring the country’s total to 65,111, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on April 14. The country's daily death toll had thus far remained below 100.

A total of 4,799 people have recovered so far, and the number of tests carried out over the past 24 hours was 33,070, the minister said.

He once again urged citizens to follow the isolation and social distancing rules, adding that the speed of the spread of the virus was under control. He said that the rate of increase in infections and deaths has slowed down in recent days.

Koca made the comments while addressing a press conference after chairing a meeting of the Health Ministry's Coronavirus Committee.

The minister said that Turkey has controlled the speed of the virus by applying a “filiation” method under which each patient's contact chain is identified, monitored and tested.

"As of today, 261,989 people have been identified in the contact chain and approximately 96 percent of them have been tracked," he said.

Koca also shared the coronavirus infection data on his Twitter account.

"The rate of increase in the number of cases, despite the increase in the number of tests, has a tendency to remain steady. The number of recovered patients is gradually increasing. The rate of increase in the number of incubated patients in intensive care is low. We have two strengths: Measures and treatment. Let's use our power," Koca wrote.

Turkey is currently treating 1,809 patients in intensive care units, according to figures.

Koca's comments came just hours after the World Health Organization spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris said that the spread of the virus is still increasing in Turkey and Britain.

Harris also noted that controlling transmission is the most important element to slow the spread of the virus.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on April 13 announced that Turkey will continue to implement weekend curfews to stem the spread of the virus, and the next curfew will be on April 18-19.

Last week, a sudden declaration of a 48-hour curfew led to a panic among citizens, as thousands of them went out on streets to purchase food, flouting social distancing rules.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu later took the responsibility for the scenes of chaos and submitted his resignation, but this was rejected by Erdoğan.

Turkish media later speculated that Soylu and Koca had a serious argument over the former’s short-notice coronavirus curfew announcement.

Koca however refuted the allegations of such an argument, saying: "Our citizens are waiting for us to focus on the struggle against the epidemic, which is affecting the world and Turkey. We have dedicated ourselves to this struggle and we have no other agenda."