Turkish HM: Turkey seeing second peak of COVID-19 outbreak

Turkey is seeing the second peak of the coronavirus outbreak due to “carelessness” at weddings and other social gatherings, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Wednesday, amid a rapid rise in the number of daily cases and deaths.

The number of new COVID-19 cases rose by 1,596 to 273,301 in the last 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data, while the death toll from the virus rose by 45 to 6,462 on Wednesday. The data showed 246,876 total recoveries.

Speaking after meeting his coronavirus science team, Koca said the capital Ankara had seen the most rapid rise in the number of cases lately, producing double the case numbers seen in Istanbul, previously the outbreak’s epicenter in Turkey.

“We are going through the second peak of the first wave of coronavirus. The carelessness at weddings and religious holidays has bought us to this point,” Koca said, but added lockdowns to curb the outbreak were not on the government’s agenda for now.

“The outbreak is increasingly continuing. The virus is spreading to more people each day. Our test numbers are rising every day, our new patient numbers are not falling,” he said, adding 29,865 health workers were infected, with 52 deaths.