The total number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey rose to 153,548 on Thursday with 961 new infections reported over the last 24 hours, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
The daily death fell to 27 amounting to a total of 4,249, Koca announced on his official Twitter account.
"Despite a higher number of tests, the number of positive cases remains at the predicted level," he said, pointing out that the number of patients in the intensive care units are falling as well.
In the last 24 hours 33,633 tests have been carried out, with the total number of tests reaching more than 1.7 million. More than 1,000 people have recovered from the virus, but 820 patients remain in the ICU.
The minister stressed that the lifestyle in the country has changed to a controlled social life, that everyone should take part in. "The only condition: Mask+1.5 meters of social distance," the statement read.
Despite the falling numbers of cases and death tolls, strict measures remain in place while some are being eased, such as a temporary exclusion from curfew for citizens age 65 and above who are in the high-risk group.
If new daily cases fall below 1,000, it means Turkey is becoming successful in its fight against the coronavirus, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Wednesday in a news conference after a meeting with the ministry's Coronavirus Science Board.
The Turkish public largely adhered to preventive measures against the coronavirus, Koca said, adding that the world does not yet know when the outbreak will end. "But in Turkey, we have seen the results of our measures," the minister noted. "Turkey succeeded in the first phase of the fight against the coronavirus, it will succeed in this phase as well."
