UPDATE- Turkey reports over 31,000 new COVID-19 infections

UPDATES WITH MORE QUOTES FROM KOCA

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey reported 31,712 more coronavirus infections, including 6,213 symptomatic patients, over the past 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data released Wednesday.

As many as 5,846 patients recovered in the past day, bringing the tally to 447,361, while the death toll rose to 15,531 with 217 additions.

Across the country, 204,411 more COVID-19 tests were administered, pushing the total to over 20.29 million.

The number of patients in critical condition now stands at 5,901, but the trend is slowing down.

Speaking after the meeting of Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said: "There is over a five-fold rise in daily number of COVID-19 cases and 55% increase in deaths compared to the previous peak in April."

He said the southern provinces of Hatay, Adana and Mersin, the northern province of Samsun, and the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya continue to see a rise in figures.

He noted that major cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Konya and Gaziantep are seeing a slowing pace of increase in virus cases.

"Though this situation [decrease in numbers] is reflected in the status of outpatient clinics, inpatient and intensive care units continue to have high occupancy rates. As a result of this, stricter restrictive measures were inevitable," Koca added.

With the weather getting colder people are gathering indoors, the minister said, adding Turkey, like the rest of the world, is experiencing a rapid surge in COVID-19 figures.

"As of today, the total number of tests performed has reached 20 million. Number of positive cases exceeded 1.5 million. 550,000 of them are critical. We have lost more than 15,000 people and we still continue to suffer losses," he said.

- Vaccination to start soon

Turkey is going to receive 50 million COVID-19 vaccines in phases starting from the next few days, Koca added.

Giving details about the vaccination, Koca said it would be administered in two doses, each 14-21 days apart.

He went on to say that the vaccination will be free-of-cost for all Turkish citizens. "We are not thinking of making vaccination mandatory for now. Instead, we are aiming to convince our citizens into making mass vaccination possible."

The vaccination will not be administered on pregnant women and to those under the age of 18.

He said that Turkey reports PCR positive deaths in accordance with the World Health Organization's directives, and noted that "not all infectious diseases are COVID-19."

The health minister further said that more than 120,000 health care workers have been infected with COVID-19 and at least 216 health care workers lost their lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed nearly 1.56 million lives in 192 countries and regions since last December.

Over 68.4 million cases have been reported worldwide, with more than 44.15 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

While the US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of the number of cases, Europe is in the grip of a devastating second wave of infections.