Turkey

ISTANBUL, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The first phase of a new mega-hospital, which will be used for treating COVID-19 patients, was inaugurated on Monday in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul.

The inpatient services of the gynecology and pediatric clinics of the Basaksehir City Hospital were put into service, which are used as pandemic hospitals for the time being.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, "Thus, today, we have added 1,035 qualified beds, including 155 intensive care beds, to our health system," he noted.

ISTANBUL, April 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a four-day lockdown from Thursday in Istanbul and 30 other major cities as part of measures to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“We are planning to implement confinement between April 23-26 in 31 cities,” Erdogan said in a televised address to the nation.

Turkey has so far applied a 48-hour lockdown in 31 cities over the last two weekends but the country of 83 million has stopped short of declaring a long-term nationwide lockdown.

20 April 2020; MEMO: Turkey blocked public access to Saudi and Emirati state news websites yesterday including the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) and the Emirates News Agency (WAM).

ISTANBUL, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday inspected the construction zones of two COVID-19 hospitals in Istanbul from the air by a helicopter.

Turkey has been building the hospitals for COVID-19 patients in the Ataturk Airport area on the European side of the city and the Sancaktepe district on the Asian side.

On April 6, Erdogan said that construction on both sites were expected to be completed in 45 days.

ANKARA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's COVID-19 cases surged to 82,329 after 3,783 new cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Saturday.

The coronavirus death toll surpassed 1,890 with 121 new deaths in the country, the minister tweeted.

Koca said that 10,453 patients have recovered from COVID-19 so far, noting that 1,894 cases are being treated at the intensive care units and 1,054 being intubated.

ANKARA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkish and Russian troops on Wednesday conducted their fourth joint patrol in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, Turkish Defense Ministry said in a written statement.

"The fourth joint Turkish-Russian land patrol was conducted today by air and ground vehicles on M4 motorway in Syria's Idlib province, as part of the earlier Turkey-Russia agreement," said the ministry.

Turkey and Russia sealed a deal on March 5 for a temporary cease-fire aiming to calm down escalated tensions between the Syrian government and Turkish troops there.

15 April 2020; MEMO: Following a presidential decree made yesterday, treatment for coronavirus in Turkey’s public hospitals will be completely free of charge. Patients will be provided protective gear and testing, in addition to medicine, even if they failed to pay state insurance.

Citing an anonymous Turkish official, Middle East Eye reported that the government had already begun allowing every citizen to benefit from the free health services.

ISTANBUL, Apr 14 (NNN-XINHUA) – Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced a new two-day curfew, which would be put into effect on Apr 17, to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Speaking in Istanbul, after attending a cabinet meeting via teleconference, Erdogan said, the lock-down would start at midnight on Friday, and would last until midnight on Apr 19.

“We decided to continue to impose these bans, if necessary,” the Turkish leader added.

13 April 2020; MEMO: President Tayyip Erdogan rejected the resignation on Sunday of Turkey’s interior minister, who said he was stepping down in the wake of a short-notice coronavirus lockdown which sent people rushing to shops to stock up on supplies.

Authorities declared the 48-hour curfew in dozens of cities shortly before 10 pm on Friday, giving millions of people just two hours’ notice and prompting a wave of desperate last-minute buying.

12 April 2020; MEMO: Turkey has quarantined nearly 14,000 citizens who came from abroad as part of measures to stem the spread of novel coronavirus, Anadolu Agency reported a minister as saying on Saturday.

A total of 13,968 citizens are under quarantine at the dormitories across 63 provinces, said Youth and Sports Minister Mehmet Kasapoglu who oversees student dormitories in the country.