ISTANBUL — Turkey’s health minister said on Thursday the country has proven it “gets results” in its fight against the novel coronavirus after nearly 83,000 people recovered and the number of new deaths sunk to their lowest level since March. Now the government is contending with a crunch on the economic front as the lira sinks to record lows.
“We must push back this virus in a determined manner and defeat it with our measures. We have proven that it is not difficult to get results,” tweeted Health Minister Fahrettin Koca. The day before, he told a news conference, “The first phase in the fight against coronavirus is over. … We own a success that the rest of the world is working to emulate.”