Daily COVID-19 deaths in decline, minister says

ISTANBUL/ŞANLIURFA

With the vaccination drive continuing uninterrupted, the number of daily COVID-19 cases and deaths has begun to decrease in Turkey, the health minister has said.

“The number of deaths and cases is decreasing. We started to gain a general advantage in our fight against the pandemic,” Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter, adding that some of the indirect damage caused by the virus continues.

“Our ability to make up for them and pave the way depends, in part, on taking the situation under control with vaccines and precautions,” he noted.

According to official reports, the number of daily COVID-19 infections is hovering at around 18,000, while authorities reported that 176 more people died due to the virus in the past 24 hours.

Speaking during a visit to Şanlıurfa, a southeastern province that has the lowest fully vaccinated adult population rate at 58.7 percent, Koca said 80 percent of the patients in intensive care units in the city are either unvaccinated or individuals with incomplete vaccination status.

Expressing that Şanlıurfa had a tough time in the early stages of the pandemic and that it was one of the provinces where the disease spread the most, Koca stated that the city was now struggling to increase the vaccination rate.

“The worst days are over; tomorrow will be better and healthier than today,” he said.

Stressing that it is necessary to reach an effective vaccination rate to overcome the pandemic, Koca said: “Our fight will be won with the support and participation of each of our citizens.”

Data from the Health Ministry show that Turkey has administered over 124.9 million doses since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January.

More than 56.7 million people have received their first doses, while nearly 51.3 million have been fully vaccinated. The number of people who have received their third COVID-19 vaccine doses crossed 15.3 million.