Turkey to report full COVID-19 figures, health minister says

Turkey will start to report its total number of coronavirus cases later this week, the country's health minister said in an interview published on Sunday, after Ankara was criticised for only releasing figures for patients showing symptoms of infection. Turkey's latest daily figures from Saturday showed 1,649 new patients and 56 deaths.

Turkey will start to report its total number of coronavirus cases later this week, the country's health minister said in an interview published on Sunday, after Ankara was criticised for only releasing figures for patients showing symptoms of infection. Fahrettin Koca told the newspaper Hurriyet that asymptomatic cases would be included in Turkey's published data from October 15, which would be shared with the World Health Organisation.

Last month, the minister revealed Turkey had been publishing only the daily number of patients displaying symptoms of COVID-19. This led to criticism from medical groups and opposition parties that had long questioned the accuracy of the statistics. Turkey's latest daily figures from Saturday showed 1,649 new patients and 56 deaths. It has reported more than 334,000 patients since the outbreak started, and 8,778 fatalities.