Minister of Health, Dr. Fahrettin Koca, held a press conference following the Coronavirus Scientific Committee video conference.
Noting that the ones who do not go outside were the unsung heroes of this struggle, Koca added that empty streets and empty squares were the battlefields on where this battle was won.
Adding that all procedures conducted by field teams were monitored electronically by the Ministry's information systems, Koca continued by saying that contact tracing was particularly being monitored closely. Koca said: "This way, we can measure out filiation performance and take additional measures, if necessary, based on our gaps."
"Early treatment have led to tangible outcomes"
Emphasizing the role of Turkey's past experience on infectious diseases, its robust healthcare system, integrated and widespread primary healthcare organization and a well-developed health information system in its success, Koca continued:
"We are lucky. We have been able to test once again how appropriate healthcare investments had been. Early intervention is key to our intervention strategy. Contrary to the information we received from China, we developed our own treatment algorithm and administrered the drugs early in cases. All patients have access to the drug free of charge even though they are not covered by insurance. Treatment was started on patients who were followed up by family practitioners after filiation and referred to hospitals as soon as they started showing symptoms and this early treatment has led to tangible outcomes."
Providing tangible outcomes of home isolation, Koca added that the number of elderly positive cases had considerably decreased as a result of the curfew imposed on people over 65 and below 18.
"The total number of tests performed is 558.413"
Koca also provided information on the current situation and continued: "With 40.270 performed today, the total number of tests performed has increased to 558.413. With 4353 new cases today, the total number of cases is 78.546. 1542 patients have recovered today. A total of 8631 patients have recovered from COVID-19. The rate of increase is decreasing even though more and more tests are being performed. The number of patients, who are intubated or receiving intensive care, is decreasing. The number of recovered and discharged patients are also going down rapidly."
Grateful to the Parliament for the Law on Preventing Violence in Healthcare
Noting that the law proposal on preventing violence in healthcare had passed into a law at the parliament Koca, thanked all parliamentarians for contributing to the adoption of the most comprehensive law to date to protect healthcare workers from violence on behalf of healthcare professionals.
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