Turkey starts using drug from China for coronavirus

Turkey's health minister said on March 24 that the country is using a drug sent from China on patients suffering from the novel coronavirus.     

"From this morning we have brought a special drug used in China which is claimed to have resulted in improvements in intensive care patients, cutting their time in care from 11-12 days to four days," Fahrettin Koca told reporters.

He did not give more information on the drug but the anti-malarial drug chloroquine has recently been used to treat coronavirus patients in China as well as France.

Some researchers have said chloroquine shows great promise, though scientists have agreed that more trials are needed to determine if the drug is really effective and safe.

According to figures released late on March 23, Turkey has officially recorded 1,529 coronavirus cases and 37 deaths.

Koca said 50,000 rapid detection kits had arrived from China on March 23 and had begun to be used, with 300,000 expected by March 26.

"We have activated the rapid test kit. Today, 50,000 arrived from China. On [March 26], 300,000 additional kits will come, and we have made arrangements to use up to one million kits," he said.

The minister added that the Chinese government agreed with Turkey to share information on the novel coronavirus as the two countries step up cooperation to fight against the pandemic.

While Koca did not detail where the positive cases were in Turkey, he said the virus had spread across the country.

"The cases were mostly from abroad initially, but I can say that through contacts, it has increased ... I can say it has spread almost across the whole country," the minister said.

He did say there were fewer than 10 cases in eastern Van province, which borders...