Turkey’s coronavirus death toll rises by 57 to 3,641, with 1,977 cases

Turkey’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by 57 to total 3,641 and new confirmed cases rose by 1,977 to bring the country’s total to 133,721, Health Ministry data showed on May 7.

Duvar English

The number of people who have died from COVID-19 in Turkey has risen by 57 in the last 24 hours to 3,641, Health Ministry data showed on May 7.

The overall number of cases rose by 1,977 to 133,721, the data showed, the highest total outside Western Europe, the United States and Russia. The number of daily deaths and new cases has fallen sharply from peaks recorded last month.

A total of 82,984 people have so far recovered from the coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.

The number of tests conducted in Turkey in the past 24 hours stood at 30,395, bringing the total number of tests during the outbreak to 1.27 million.

"The number of tests will soon reach 1.5 million. The partial increase which drew the attention yesterday has gone down. There is again a fall in the number of deaths and patients in intensive care compared to yesterday," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca wrote on his Twitter account.

Koca said on May 6 that Turkey has entered “a new phase” in the battle against the virus. He said that in this new phase, the country aims to eliminate the disease, reopen businesses and set new social behavior guidelines to prevent any resurgence of the outbreak.

“The coronavirus outbreak is currently under control in Turkey… We aim to eliminate coronavirus in the second phase. We are shifting towards a new way of life,” Koca told a news conference.

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