'No slowdown in transmission rate of COVID-19 in Turkey'

Ankara, Sep 15 Turkey does not see any slow down in transmission rate of the novel coronavirus, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

"There is no slowing down in the rate of transmission of the infection," Koca tweeted on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Turkey confirmed 1,716 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the total diagnosed patients to 292,878, the Turkish Health Ministry announced.

Meanwhile, 63 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 7,119, according to the data shared by the ministry.

A total of 1,225 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 260,058 in Turkey since the outbreak.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients is 7.1 per cent and the number of seriously ill patients is 1,301.

Turkish health professionals conducted 112,563 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 8,632,123.

Turkey reported the first COVID-19 case on March 11.

Turkey and China have supported each other in the fight against COVID-19. Chinese doctors and medical experts held video conferences with Turkish counterparts to share China's experience in treating coronavirus patients, protecting medical workers, and controlling the spread of the virus.

( With inputs from IANS )