President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump held a phone call on Sunday, primarily focused on the coronavirus pandemic, according to a statement from the Turkish Presidency.
The two leaders agreed in a phone call to continue close cooperation against threats posed by the coronavirus to public health and economies.
Erdoğan and Trump also discussed regional developments, and emphasized the importance of their countries' partnership as NATO member states, the statement said.
The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 infections in the world and Turkey now ranks seventh, according to Johns Hopkins University’s data on the coronavirus pandemic.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that a total of 2,017 people have died of the coronavirus in the country, with 127 new deaths in the last 24 hours. Koca, in figures tweeted Sunday, said 3,977 new infections were confirmed in the past day, bringing the total number to 86,306.
The minister also said 11,976 people have recovered so far in Turkey, including 1,523 in the past 24 hours.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and could lead to death.
