Turkey’s daily coronavirus infections remained over 1,400 on Wednesday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced.
Some 1,467 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total caseload to over 181,000. Meanwhile, the death toll rose 4,842 with 17 new fatalities.
Turkey is seeing an upward trend in the daily number of infections after cafes, restaurants, gyms, parks, beaches and museums were authorized to reopen, inter-city travel restrictions were lifed and stay-at-home orders for the elderly and young were eased at the start of June.
The daily number of infections has climbed to around 1,500 in the past four days after hovering around 800-900 previously.
The total number of recoveries from the disease reached 153,379, while 732 patients remain in intensive care, Koca said.
Turkey has made the wearing of face masks mandatory in five more provinces, following an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Koca tweeted early Tuesday that the wearing of masks is now compulsory in 42 of Turkey’s 81 provinces.
In the remaining provinces, residents are required to wear masks on public transportation and in shops and malls and are being advised to wear masks and keep to social distancing practices elsewhere.
Koca tweeted: “we cannot struggle against the virus without masks.”
