Turkey is not reporting the number of all Covid-19 cases but only patients with symptoms, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said last night (September 30)
Koca’s statement came after a ministry document was revealed showing nearly 20 times more cases than official one-day figures
« Every case is not a patient, » he told reporters after being asked about the problem at a press conference after meeting with the ministry’s scientific council
« We are talking about people with symptoms We are giving this as the daily number of patients As of July 29, we started giving it as » the number of patients « », he explained
Asked by reporters whether the ministry only announces the number of hospital patients, Koca said the number of all patients with symptoms, whether hospitalized or not, was announced
After Koca’s statement, the hashtag #vaksayisikac (How many cases are there?) has become a « trending topic » on Twitter in Turkey
MP Murat Emir of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Tuesday, September 29, revealed a document from the ministry’s internal laboratory system, which showed that 29,377 new cases of Covid-19 had been discovered September 10 when the ministry reported 1,512 « patients » that day
Emir also highlighted the change on July 29 and said he aimed to cover up the real numbers
Doctors ‘organizations and health workers’ unions dispute official ministry figures since the start of the epidemic
CLICK – Union of Health Workers: Daily Covid-19 cases in Ankara exceed official figures for all of Turkey
CLICK – Turkish Medical Association: There are 10 times more Covid patients than the ministry says
The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) released a statement on Twitter after Koca’s remarks, saying: « We have been saying this for six months You did not carry out the process transparently You hid the truth You did not did not prevent the spread of the disease «
TTB Central Committee chairman Şebnem Korur-Fincancı also shared a post with the hashtag #vakasayisikac, saying « The truth is our right »
Prof Sinan Adıyaman, former TTB chairman, called on Koca to step down as Minister of Health
The TTB previously revealed that the ministry was not using the death codes recommended by the World Health Organization, hence the actual death toll higher than official figures
Ministry of Health reported 1,391 new patients with Covid-19 and 1,245 recoveries in the last 24 hours
The total number of cases / patients in the country now stands at 318,663, with a total of 279,749 recoveries, according to data from the Ministry of Health
Almost 112,098 other coronavirus tests were carried out in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall total to over 1,038 million
The daily number of deaths, cases / patients, healings and tests reported by the ministry since the start of the epidemic:
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Turkey, coronavirus, symptomatic treatment, Fahrettin Koca
News from the world – GB – Turkey admits not disclosing the number of all Covid-19 cases
