NEWS CENTER - In the last 24 hours, 37 more people died of and 1,610 tested positive for Covid-19, the Ministry of Health has announced.

 

Turkey's death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has risen to 168 as 37 people died in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministy has announced.

 

Out of 11,535 people tested for the virus since yesterday, 1,610 have been found to be infected, bringing the total cases to 10,827, the ministry said in a statement on its website. The total number of tests stood at 76,981.

 

According to the ministry's statement, 725 people are currently in intensive care with 523 of them being intubated. A total of 162 people have recovered from the disease so far.

 

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has criticized also social media over allegations that official data on the novel coronavirus is inaccurate.

 

"Claims on social media that there is an incoherency in the data we announced are completely unfounded," Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter. "The numerical data announced is based directly on COVID-19 diagnosis data. It is instant and real-time data."

 

The novel coronavirus outbreak began in China's Wuhan city in December 2019. It has now spread to at least 175 countries and territories, infecting over 740 thousand people and killing more than 35 thousand, according to data compiled by John Hopkins University in the US. Over 156 thousand people have recovered from the disease. Italy, China, Iran, and Spain have been the most affected countries.