VAN - Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has indicated that while the eastern provinces of Diyarbakır, Şırnak, Batman, Mardin, Urfa and Siirt have witnessed a decrease in their COVID-19 infection rates, it has almost doubled in Van province over the past month.

 

Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca has addressed the reporters ahead of a provincial evaluation meeting in Turkey's eastern province of Van.

 

"There has once again been a surge in the coronavirus outbreak that we have been waging a struggle with since March," the Minister has noted.

 

Indicating that Turkey's eastern provinces of Diyarbakır, Şırnak, Batman, Mardin, Şanlıurfa and Siirt have witnessed a drop of 30 to 70 percent when compared to a few weeks ago, Koca has briefly stated:

 

"Van has become one of the centers that we have been examining more closely as the Ministry of Health. It is one of the provinces where the number of patients has quickly increased in the recent period. The increase in the number of patients has almost doubled over the past month. When we look at the last week, this increase is over 17 percent.

 

"We have been experiencing a serious intensity for the last three weeks. We are trying to take the situation under control with our swift and effective interventions. I can say that there are no problems in our medical institutions for now. We have quickly increased our number of contract tracing teams from 80 to 128 in Van in this period."

 

Minister Fahrettin Koca has also indicated that "Turkey is one of the countries which is tracing contacts most effectively and widely."

 

MAJORITY OF THE INTENSIVE CARE PATIENTS ARE OVER 65

 

According to Koca, while 4.2 percent of Van's population is aged 65 and over, this rate is 15.6 percent among coronavirus patients, which shows that the incidence of the disease among the aged is almost 4 times higher than their proportion in the entire population of Van.

 

He has also underlined that the majority of the citizens in intensive care units in Van are aged 65 and over. "It constitutes a serious risk that this almost 4-times increase has been witnessed among the ones aged over 65."

 

RECENT SITUATION IN TURKEY

 

The Ministry of Health announced the latest figures on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Turkey yesterday (September 9).

 

While 1,673 people have tested positive, 55 people have died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. 943 people have recovered. The number of tests conducted in the last 24 hours has been announced as 111,193.

 

According to the figures announced till today, 8,105,222 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Turkey so far. While the total number of cases is 284,943, the death toll has reached 6,837.