Skip to main content

Turkey builds more hospitals as coronavirus cases spike

More than 30,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 less than a month since it was confirmed to have reached Turkey as the government continues to resist imposing a full lockdown.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - APRIL 04: Officials check the ventilators allocated for early treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19) at Basaksehir Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey on April 4, 2020. 155 units of Ventilators arrive in Turkey despite the restrictions on international roaming. (Photo by Elif Ãztürk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised on Monday to expand the number of hospital beds in Istanbul, the epicenter of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, as the disease claimed another 75 lives despite tighter restrictions on residents to enforce social distancing.

The latest deaths raised the toll from COVID-19 in Turkey to 649 people, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter. The number of confirmed cases in the last 24 hours increased by 3,148 to 30,217, placing Turkey ninth among the nations with the highest number of cases. The world has counted 1.29 million cases and nearly 71,000 deaths since the virus emerged in China in December.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.