ISTANBUL, Mar 22 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey stepped up COVID-19 testing as the number of infected cases increased exponentially in recent days.
Turkey carried out more than 10,000 tests for COVID-19 so far, the country’s Health Minister, Fahrettin Koca, announced, voicing hope to increase the number of tests per day.
So far, Turkey announced 21 dead and 947 cases.
Turkey’s efforts to step up tests came, amid World Health Organisation Head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ call for all countries to be able to test all suspected cases, earlier this week.
Turkey so far focused on people who came from abroad or were in touch with foreigners, who recently arrived in the country. Authorities transferred thousands of people directly from airports to 14-day quarantine at hotels around the nation, screening them with 75-minute homemade diagnosis kit.
On Friday, Turkey received a first batch of 50,000 15-minute diagnosis kits from China. The government increased the number of labs to 36 from 16.
Koca noted that more than 4.6 million passengers were screened with thermal cameras at airports, and 1,103 among 189,000 passengers through land border crossings were being monitored for COVID-19.
The minister said, there was no need to declare a state of emergency at the moment, but called on individuals to stay at home during the next two to three weeks.
Turkey temporarily shut down schools, closed all public spaces, such as restaurants, bars and gyms, called off communal prayers at mosques, and suspended incoming flights from over 20 countries.
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, unveiled a 15.4-billion-U.S. dollar plan, to help businesses ride out the economic storm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ankara plans to introduce a mix of tax cuts, defer payments and increase payouts.
