Turkey's coronavirus death toll rises to 356, with 18,135 total cases

ANKARA

Turkey's death toll from the coronavirus outbreak increased by 79 to 356 on April 2, its highest rise, while the number of confirmed cases from the disease rose by 2,456 to 18,135, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

According to the infographic Koca shared on Twitter, 18,757 tests have been conducted in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests carried out to 125,566 since the outbreak began.

Koca said that the tests Turkey carried out on April 2 increased by 4,000, compared to the day before.

"We have 82 new recovered patients," he said.

Some 82 percent of fatalities from coronavirus occurred among citizens aged over 60, Koca said.

The data also revealed that 415 patients have recovered so far.

The number of patients in the intensive care units of the hospitals was 1,101, while the number of intubated patients was 783, according to the infographic.

Anti-COVID-19 campaign raises nearly $128 mln

In the meantime, Turkey has so far raised around 847 million Turkish Liras (nearly $128 million) donation as part of the National Solidarity Campaign to aid fight the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s Communications Directorate said on March 2.

The directorate made the announcement on Twitter.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on March 30 launched the campaign to aid fight the novel coronavirus, donating seven of his monthly salaries to the initiative.

Cabinet members and lawmakers donated 5.2 million liras ($791,000) to the campaign.