Turkish Government: "COVID-19 Case Increase Rate Will Decrease Starting Next Week"

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The Turkish government expects the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) to slow down starting next week.

Fahrettin Koca, Turkey's Minister of Health, said on the 18th (local time), "We do not expect the rate of increase in confirmed cases to rise in the coming days."

He emphasized, "By next week, we will be able to see an inflection point on the graph showing the number of new confirmed cases. Although the number of confirmed cases is increasing due to more tests being conducted, the ratio of confirmed cases to the number of tests is decreasing."

According to the Turkish government, as of today, the total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases is 78,546, and the cumulative death toll is 1,769. Over the past week, Turkey's daily new confirmed cases have remained around 4,000 to 5,000.

Turkey has currently suspended international flights and has banned people under 20 and over 65 years old from going outside. Additionally, the government has declared a curfew on the weekend of the 18th and 19th in 31 regions, including Istanbul and the capital Ankara.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.