Turkey had 23,934 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Saturday, with an increase of 3,013 in the last 24 hours while the death toll grew by 76 to 501, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has announced.
According to a chart showing the latest figures posted by Koca on Twitter, 19,664 test results have come in since Friday, and 786 patients have been discharged from hospitals since the onset of the outbreak. Koca said there has been an increase in the number of patients who have recovered, and 302 people have been discharged from the hospital since Friday.
A total of 1,311 patients are in intensive care, and 909 of them have been put on ventilators, according to the chart.
The first case of coronavirus in Turkey was confirmed by the minister on March 11.
Experts say the exponential increase in the number of cases poses a great danger to the Turkish public.
There are claims that the number of COVID-19 cases is actually higher than what is officially announced as many cases go unnoticed because tests are not widely performed.
First seen in the Chinese city of Wuhan, COVID-19 has spread rapidly around the world, infecting more than 1,182,398 people worldwide and killing more than 63,000. In the meantime, some 243,000 people were treated.
