Istanbul, Ankara still leading in severest virus cases

ANKARA

Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city by population, and the capital Ankara are still seeing the highest number of severely ill coronavirus patients among all provinces, according to the country’s health minister.

“Ankara, Istanbul, the Central Anatolian province of Konya, the southeastern province of Diyarbakır and the northwestern province of Bursa were the five provinces with the highest number of intubated patients registered in the last three days,” Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter on July 12.

He also noted that Istanbul, the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, Ankara, the southeastern province of Gaziantep and Konya had the most average number of patients in intensive care units (ICU).

The minister also shared a picture of a public transport bus packed with passengers, showing people ignoring social distancing rules, and warned that such scenes will result in new COVID-19 cases a week later.

“Let’s avoid any sort of crowd. Let’s try to reduce the number of new infections by adhering to the rules,” Koca tweeted.

Official wedding ceremony services will not be offered at weddings where necessary anti-virus precautions are not taken in the Elbistan district of the southeastern province of Kahramanmaraş, the mayor announced.

“The infections have been on the rise because people are not observing the rules at social events, such as wedding, engagement ceremonies and other celebrations,” Mehmet Gürbüz said.