Turkey expands health measures amid COVID-19 outbreak

By Duygu Yener

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's Ministry of Health took measures to minimize the burden on health facilities and medical professionals amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

As part of the measures, hospitals across the country, including those run privately and by foundations, that meet certain conditions will be qualified to function as pandemic hospitals.

The ministry said hospitals would become pandemic hospitals if they employed specialized doctors in at least two of either infectious diseases, pulmonology or internal diseases.

Facilities that can be designated as pandemic hospitals will be required to have a level-three adult intensive care unit.

In regions where pandemic hospitals are inadequate, hospitals with second-level adult intensive care units will also serve in this category.

A clinic and an intensive care unit will be designated in each pandemic hospital to be reserved for COVID-19 patients.

On late Friday, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the number of coronavirus cases in Turkey reached 670, with a total nine dead.

- COVID-19 outbreak

COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China last December, and has spread to at least 164 countries and territories.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic. Out of more than 266,000 confirmed cases, the death toll now exceeds 11,000, and over 87,000 have recovered, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Despite the rising number of cases, most who become infected suffer only mild symptoms and recover.

*Writing by Fahri Aksut