Turkey logs highest daily new COVID-19 cases since May

ISTANBUL

Turkey logged 27,802 new COVID-19 cases on Sept. 14, the highest number of daily infections since May 4, official figures showed, as Health Minister Fahrettin Koca urged people to get vaccinated.

The country also recorded 276 deaths from the coronavirus, near record daily levels.

“Of the cases previously mentioned in the figures, 276 resulted in deaths today,” Koca said on Twitter, stressing that the number of cases and then the casualties will decrease rapidly in a short time if unity and solidarity in vaccination and measures are ensured.

The rise in Turkey’s daily death toll since mid-July has been among the sharpest among countries in Europe and the Middle East, global data shows.

Following the comprehensive efforts of the authorities in a bid to slow down the spread of the virus, there is no longer any province, except the northeastern province of Gümüşhane, considered at “high risk” on Turkey’s COVID-19 map.

“Currently, Gümüşhane is the only province where the first dose vaccine rate is below 65 percent,” Koca noted.

On Turkey’s COVID-19 risk map, provinces are divided into four different risk groups: Low (blue), medium (yellow), high (orange), and very high (red) based on infection and vaccination rates of the residents.

Turkey has administered over 103.01 million coronavirus vaccine jabs since the country launched an immunization drive in January, according to new figures released.

Over 51.98 million people have gotten their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, while more than 40.92 million are fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said.

The data showed that 83.74 percent of the country’s adult population has received at least one dose of a two-shot vaccine.

Turkey has also given third booster shots to over 9.56 million people.

Meanwhile, one in five COVID-19-related deaths is due to sepsis, according to a Turkish intensive care specialist.

Speaking at an event held for World Sepsis Day, Intensive Care Association chair Oktay Demirkıran said that one out of every five deaths due to COVID-19 is caused by sepsis, but that the necessary awareness has not been reached in this regard.

Informing that the awareness is at 60 percent even among senior medical students in Turkey, Demirkan announced that briefing activities started in all hospitals across the country.

Sepsis is known as a life-threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs.

Experts repeatedly warn that severe COVID-19 patients may experience septic shock, which can eventually lead to death.