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The coronavirus pandemic reached a new peak in Turkey and the country’s health ministry reported the highest number of deaths and daily cases since the start of the outbreak.
Turkey’s Health Ministry reported 153 Covid-19-related deaths in the past 24 hours, surpassing last Friday’s previous high of 141 deaths.
The ministry announced 6,713 new Covid-19 “patients”, this is the highest daily number recorded since the start of the pandemic.
The daily reported cases in Turkey are not comparable to the rest of the world.
Since July, the country publishes the number of “patients”; this number only includes people who show symptoms and those who have positive PCR tests. The publicly available data does not include asymptomatic cases or those that present clinical signs of Covid-19 but test negative, according to previous statements from the Ministry of Health.
The number of new Covid-19 “patients” registered on Monday is higher than any daily case reported before the decision to exclude asymptomatic cases from public data began in July.
Occupancy rates for ICU beds now stand at 71.3%, the highest since the start of the pandemic, with overall hospital bed capacity at 54.7%, the ministry said.
Tighter measures went into effect last week, including limited curfews on weekends, age-specific daily closings for people over 65 and under 20, as well as temporary closures of cinemas, teahouses, billiard rooms. and internet cafes. Restaurants and cafes have been restricted to delivery and take-out only and schools have moved online. In Istanbul, the local anti-pandemic board has also started to implement outdoor smoking bans in certain neighborhoods, squares and streets.
