Turkey's daily COVID-19 cases below 1,000 for third day in a row

Duvar English

Turkey on July 16 reported a third straight day of fewer than 1,000 new coronavirus cases, with 933 cases identified.

The country’s death toll from the disease rose to 5,440, with 21 new fatalities reported, according to Health Ministry Data.

Healthcare professionals conducted a total of 42,411 tests for the disease over the past day.

In a Twitter post, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that there is no direct correlation between case numbers and test numbers in a day.

"Our number of tests was also 42,000 when we had reached 1,592 cases on June 15. The number tests depends on the need. It is the measures that determines the result," Koca wrote.

Daily new COVID-19 cases in Turkey on July 14 dropped below 1,000 for the first time in 33 days.

Daily cases hit a low of 786 on June 2 in the country but more than doubled to 1,592 two weeks later after the government eased measures against the spread of the virus.

At the start of June, Turkey opened restaurants and cafes, and lifted weekend stay-home orders and inter-city travel bans.

A subsequent doubling of daily coronavirus cases prompted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to warn the country had lost some ground in its battle with coronavirus.

As Turks poured out into streets, parks, malls and vacation spots last month, the government made face masks compulsory in several provinces. More measures could come even as officials have said there is no plan to slow momentum in the economy, which emerged in June from a near standstill since mid-March.