ANKARA (Reuters) – The COVID-19 related death toll in Turkey surged to 309 in the last 24 hours, the highest daily level in more than nine months, health ministry data showed on Tuesday, with new cases over that period at 94,730.
In late December, daily cases stood at about 20,000 but have since surged due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Daily infections peaked at 111,157 earlier this month.
The death toll reported on Tuesday was the highest since 356 on May 5. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca urged elderly citizens and those with chronic illnesses to exercise more caution after the data.
“The fact that infections due to Omicron are generally experienced lighter doesn’t mean everything else is going fine. Let’s first not forget that death figures are high,” Koca said on Twitter.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; editing by David Evans)
