Minister of Health, Dr Fahrettin Koca delivered a press statement following the Regional Assessment Meeting covering the provinces of Samsun, Ordu, Çorum, Tokat, Amasya and Sinop in Samsun.
Koca pointed out that they had made many investments in healthcare in Samsun and added that they were deliberating on other healthcare facilities needed in Samsun.
"For the past week, we have been able to contain the rate of increase in the number of cases thanks to nationwide measures and strict supervision. However, this should definitely not make us complacent", said Koca and continued, "We have had problems in the past weeks in some hospitals. We keep on fighting this pandemic with strong cooperation with governors, provincial directors, chief physicians and healthcare workers."
Noting that Samsun was subjected to a lot of population movement as it lies at the crossroads of the Black Sea Region, Koca added, "As people return to other cities from Samsun, it creates a lot of potential for the disease to spread. For this reason, Samsun has a critical role in controlling the pandemic in the country, in general. I would like to underline that the number of cases has declined by a third in Samsun compared to a month ago. We also expect the number of patients to go further down in 10 days. Our goal is to relieve the burden of hospitals by reducing the number of patients."
Adding that the number of contact-tracing teams was increased to 175, Koca said, "The duration of contact-tracing was reduced to 13 hours. In Samsun, this duration has been decreased to 9 hours."
Following his meeting at the governor's office, Minister Koca visited patients being treated at Samsun Training and Research Hospital.
Following the evaluation meeting with health directors of Ordu, Çorum, Tokat, Amasya, Sinop and Samsun and field coordinators, Minister Koca held a press conference where he gave updates on the coronavirus situation in Turkey.
Koca said,“The number of people being treated for COVID-19 has reached 6.5 million worldwide, the number of people who have lost their lives has reached 1 million, and the number those infected with the virus has approached 33 million. The months of fall can bring about a lot more infections and deaths. The measures we take against the coronavirus is effective against flu, as well. We have to fight two viruses at the same time."
© 2025 Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health All rights reserved.
