NEWS CENTER - The Ministry of Health has announced that Turkey’s coronavirus death toll has risen to 6,039 and the total number of cases to 253,108. 23 people have died of the virus and 1,303 people have tested positive in the last 24 hours.

 

The Ministry of Health announced the latest figures on novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Turkey yesterday (August 19).

 

While 1,303 people have tested positive, 23 people have died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. 1,002 people have recovered. The number of tests conducted in the last 24 hours has been announced as 87,223.

 

According to the figures announced till today, 5,969,629 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Turkey so far. While the total number of cases is 253,108, the death toll has reached 6,039.

 

While 719 patients are reportedly in critical condition, the rate of COVID-19 patients with pneumonia has been announced as 7.4 percent. The total number of recovered patients is 233,915.

 

Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca also addressed the reporters following the routine Coronavirus Science Board meeting in the capital city of Ankara.

 

Indicating that the number of daily tests is over 80 thousand now, he has said that they want this number to be over 100 thousand in upcoming days.

 

He has also noted that the number of contact tracing teams has been increased from 7,507 in July to 9,344, adding that in the last 45 days, these teams can reach 98.9 percent of those known to be in contact chain.

 

Sharing details about the occupancy rates at pandemic hospitals, Minister Koca has indicated that intensive care units are 64.8 percent full while 53.3 percent of service beds and 31.7 percent or ventilators are full.

 

"We have identified that over 95 thousand people, who were supposed to be in isolation due to their disease or contact, violated isolation rules and attempted to use public transportation," Koca has added further.

 

Since originating in China last December, COVID-19 has claimed nearly 782,441 lives in 188 countries and regions. Over 22.2 million cases have been reported worldwide while over 14 million patients have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.