Weekly incidence rates rise in Istanbul, Ankara
ISTANBUL
The weekly COVID-19 incidence rates have increased in Istanbul and Ankara but have declined in İzmir, the country’s third-largest city.
The incidence rate, measuring the number of coronavirus infections per 100,000 people, rose from 617 in the week of Feb. 12 - Feb. 18 to 646 between Feb. 19 and Feb. 25, data from the Health Ministry showed.
In the capital, the rate climbed from 1,217 to 1,276, but İzmir saw it decline from 776 to 662 over the same period.
However, the number of the daily COVID-19 cases has been on the decline since the start of March, which prompted officials to relax some anti-virus measures last week.
The number of daily infections, which hit more than 100,000 in April, have remained below 60,000 since March 1, even declining under 40,000 last week. The deaths from the virus are also dropping. Less than 200 people lost their lives due to COVID-19 each day since March 2.
Some experts are confident that the pandemic situation will improve further in the weeks to come.
Encouraged by the decline in the number of cases, the government last week scrapped the outdoor mask mandate. However, people are still obliged to wear masks while on planes and buses, as well as in theaters and cinemas.
