Rate of patient contacts to contract virus spikes in Turkey

ANKARA

The rate of people in contact with COVID-19 patients and turning into cases rises across Turkey by 1.3 times compared with May, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter on Aug. 9.

“The increase was 1.6 times in the capital Ankara while the corresponding figure for the provinces of Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, and Gaziantep are 1.7, 1.4, and 1.3 times, respectively. The conclusion we should draw from those numbers is the need to adhere to face mask, hygiene and social distancing rules,” Koca added.

Turkey conducted 61,446 daily tests on Aug. 9, slightly lower than the record 63,842 tests carried out the previous day. 

“The daily infections seem to remain at 1,000 cases and the trend has been upwards over the past days. Probably more people will be diagnosed with COVID-19 as they ignored the rules during the Eid al-Adha holiday and during their vacation,” said Professor Mustafa Necmi İlhan from the Health Ministry’s Social Sciences Board.

The public has the wrong perception that COVID-19 does not transmit through the sea, he added.

“This is wrong. We observed that people were largely negligent of the anti-virus rules during their holiday in resort towns. And some of the facilities in those resort towns also ignore the rules,” İlhan said.

He warned that the infections have been on the rise over the past nine days, and if this trend continues the number of daily cases may go up to 1,500.