Turkey’s coronavirus deaths up to 37

Turkey’s deaths from the coronavirus increased by 37 to 168 on March 30, as the number of confirmed cases rose by 1,610 to 10,827, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
Some 162 patients have recovered so far.

The minister added on Twitter that 11,535 tests had been conducted on March 30 – the highest since the start of the outbreak – bringing the total number of tests carried out in Turkey to 76,981 since the outbreak began.

Turkey confirmed its first case of the coronavirus early on March 11.

Since then, the government has taken a series of precautions against the spread of the virus, including shutting down schools, universities, bars, nightclubs, cinemas, cafes, spas, amusement parks as well as swimming pools.

Turkish Airlines said from March 29 it would halt all international flights until April 17 and limit domestic flights to those to and from 14 big cities. Domestic flights serving Ankara, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Gaziantep, İstanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Konya, Malatya, Samsun, Trabzon and Van will be operated, but passengers must present a document proving they were allowed to travel by their governor, the airline said.

In a notice detailing the travel restrictions, the Interior Ministry said on March 28 all citizens must remain in the cities they reside in and could only leave with a doctor’s note, in the event of the death of a family member or if they have no accommodation.