Fahrettin Koca

The new regulation which will improve the rights and additional payments of health workers was published in the Official Gazette on Aug. 12.

Making a statement after the publication of the regulation, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in his post on social media that additional payments will be made on the 15th of each month to health workers.

In a bid to detect illegal substances or objects that could endanger the safety of a patient or a doctor, "door security systems" has begun to be installed in hospitals, the Health Ministry has announced.

With COVID-19 numbers rising again, Health Ministry opened up booster shot appointments in an effort to increase dropping the number of infections.

One of BioNTech, Sinovac or Turkovac vaccines can be chosen for the booster shot, which will be the sixth dose for those aged 65 and over and also those in risky groups.

After the murder of Ekrem Karakaya, a doctor in the central Anatolian province of Konya, the other day, the Union of Healthcare and Social Service Workers (Sağlık-Sen) went on strike across Türkiye on July 7. 

Turkish doctors wearing PPE hold placards reading 'you cannot manage, we are exhausted, we die' during a protest in front of the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, 15 September 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU

Türkiye may face a new wave of COVID infections as the actual number of coronavirus infections is more than detected, experts have warned.

As people have stopped wearing face masks while traveling on public transport or indoor spaces, it has triggered the recent spike in coronavirus cases, the experts said.

A young woman named Busenur Doğanay, residing on a basement floor in Ankara's Keçiören district, has died due to floods that occurred after a heavy downpour in the city, Ankara Governor Vasip Şahin has said, adding that the search for the missing person continues.

Fahrettin Koca, Türkiye's health minister, has said the bad days of the coronavirus pandemic are over and refused the allegations that face masks will be mandatory again in the fall.

With the rise of the number of infections, an assertion that citizens will be forced to wear face masks again in the up-coming months sensationalized the social media last week.

A total of 7,556 COVID-19 cases were reported in Turkey between June 6 and 12, the Health Ministry said in its weekly coronavirus statistics. 

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca had previously announced that the ministry would stop publishing daily statistics after the number of cases started to decline.

Turkey has no monkeypox virus cases as the latest tests on four suspected patients have emerged negative, the country's health minister has said.

"Tests have been made on four patients suspected to be infected with monkeypox in Istanbul. All are negative," Fahrettin Koca tweeted late on June 4.