Turkey's 'neighbourhood inspection teams' to enforce measures

Ankara, Aug 17 The Turkish government will establish "neighborhood inspection teams" to enforce the measures against the coronavirus pandemic, according to a circular issued by the Interior Ministry.

The members of state institutions, local administrations, law enforcements and school officials will be responsible for these teams, Xinhua news agency quoted the circular as saying on Sunday.

Turkey confirmed 1,192 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising the total tally to 249,309, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted.

Meanwhile, 19 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 5,974, he noted.

Turkish health professionals conducted 65,956 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 5,725,242, he said.

A total of 997 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 230,969 in Turkey since the outbreak, Koca added.

The rate of pneumonia in Covid-19 patients is 7.6 per cent and the number of seriously ill patients is 679, he stated.

Turkey reported the first coronavirus case on March 11.

( With inputs from IANS )