Ankara rebuffs claims of inaccurate coronavirus data as cases top 9,000

The Turkish health ministry on March 29 reported 1,815 new coronavirus cases, marking the country's largest daily increase in infections, and 23 additional deaths.

That raised the total number of known infections in the country to 9,217, while the death toll has reached 131, it said.

According to the ministry's update, 9,982 tests had been conducted in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests carried out in Turkey to 65,446.

A total of 105 patients have recovered since the beginning of the outbreak, according to the announced data, with 568 patients still being treated at intensive care units.

Separately, Koca on early March 30 denied claims of inaccurate official data on the COVID-19.

"Claims on social media that there is an incoherency in the data we announced are completely unfounded," Koca said in a tweet.

"The numerical data announced is based directly on COVID-19 diagnosis data. It is instant and real-time data," he said, referring to the official name of the novel coronavirus.

"It is useless to distort the facts," he added.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on March 27 urged Turks to stay at home except for shopping or basic needs to help contain the fast-growing outbreak.
Erdoğan announced further measures to contain the spread of the virus, halting international flights, inter-city trains and making other domestic travel subject to a governor's approval.

Turkish Airlines said from March 29 it would halt all international flights until April 17 and limit domestic flights to those to and from 14 big cities. Pegasus Airlines said it stopped all domestic flights until April 30, and Istanbul's smaller Sabiha Gökçen airport closed.

In a notice detailing travel...