Turkey has replaced Iran as the hardest-hit nation by the coronavirus pandemic in the Middle East as the number of confirmed cases reached 82,329. The number surged to 82,329 after 3,783 new cases were confirmed on Saturday, reports Xinhua news agency.
The death toll reached 1,890 in the country after 121 new fatalities were reported, said Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
A total of 10,453 patients have recovered since the outbreak of the virus in the country in mid-March.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inspected the construction zones of two COVID-19 hospitals in Istanbul from the air by a helicopter which are expected to provide full capacity service with its 1,008 beds each when completed.
As of Saturday, the number of confirmed cases in Iran reached 80,868, with the emergence of 1,374 new infections. While the death toll stood at 5,031, up by 73 from a day ago.
Meanwhile, President Erdogan draws flak for calling the continuation of “free, open, and rule-abiding” international trade and cargo transportation between countries.
The president said this is vital for the flow of supply chain amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
He told the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council) via teleconference that measures, which were taken by individual countries to curb the spread of the virus, could negatively affect international trade.
“For this reason, we should adopt the most practical solutions in the shortest time possible in areas such as transportation, customs, and border crossings by prioritizing the public health,” he noted.
The Turkish leader also said the world was facing a socio-economic crisis on a global scale because of the impacts of the pandemic.
In Erdogan’s view, the latest developments revealed the importance of strengthening the Middle Corridor, which begins in Turkey and passes through Georgia, Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea and Central Asia before reaching China.
“We need to intensify our cooperation to take concrete steps in this transport corridor and ensure the developments of a contact-less foreign trade and multi-modal transport systems,” he said.
Erdogan noted that railway transportation, which is used as freight shipment between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia, could be extended to Central Asia.
“In that regard, we are working to be able to carry an extra 3,500 tonnes of products per day through the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (railway) line,” Erdogan said.
The summit brought together the leaders of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan as well as Hungary which has observer status to discuss the ways of cooperation and exchange of views in the fight against the COVID-19, according to press reports.
Prisoners Release
Turkey’s Parliament passed a law that will allow the release of tens of thousands of prisoners to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the jails.
“The draft has become law after being accepted,” the official Twitter account for Parliament’s General Assembly said.
The bill was supported by 279 lawmakers in the 600-seat chamber while 51 voted against it.
According to the law, about 45,000 prisoners will be temporarily released under judicial control till the end of May, and the authorities can extend the period twice by a maximum of two months, reports Xinhua news agency.
Another batch of some 45,000 prisoners will be released permanently to reduce the overcrowding in jails. However, those jailed for sex as well as drug crimes, first degree murder, crimes of violence against women and terrorist crimes were excluded from the reform, said the Anadolu News Agency.
Situation in Iran
Iranian authorities have said that they were closer to the contain the COVID-19 pandemic in most of the country, while, Turkey was poised to overtake Iran as the hardest-hit country in the Middle East due to rapid growth of new cases.
Iran on Friday reported 1,499 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 79,494, with 4,958 deaths, reports Xinhua news agency.
“Despite circumstances arising from sanctions and economic warfare, no patient was left abandoned behind hospital doors and no patient lacked needed drugs and medical care during the peak of the virus across cities,” Minister of Health and Medical Education Saeed Namaki said.
He said that Iran’s virus response was developed on scientific models and years of past experience in “eradicating infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, polio, measles, mumps and tetanus”.
