The governor of the Istanbul province, Ali Yerlikaya, said on Tuesday that Turkey's largest city had passed the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic's second wave, and the number of hospitalizations had decreased by 40 percent
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd December, 2020) The governor of the Istanbul province, Ali Yerlikaya, said on Tuesday that Turkey's largest city had passed the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic's second wave, and the number of hospitalizations had decreased by 40 percent.
Turkey saw a rise in the coronavirus infection rate in late November and early December, and some 40 percent of daily-detected cases were registered in Istanbul. The rate decreased in the second half of December, but the country is still seeing record numbers of coronavirus-related fatalities. On Monday, Turkey confirmed an all-time high of 254 COVID-19 deaths.
"We left behind the peak of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of hospitalizations decreased by 40 percent, the number of patients in intensive care [decreased] by 25 percent. If we adhere to restrictive measures and isolation rules, we will always have good news about the pace of the epidemic," Yerlikaya said in a statement.
In mid-December, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the introduction of a round-the-clock curfew in Turkey for the New Year holidays, from 9 p.m. on December 31 to 5 a.m. on January 4 with the aim of stopping the spread of COVID-19.
To date, Turkey has registered over 2 million COVID-19 cases, more than 1.8 million recoveries and over 18,000 related deaths.
