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Erdoğan hails 'healthcare army' fighting virus
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkey's president on April 8 praised the nation's “healthcare army” of nearly half a million medical staff and 360,000 support personnel fighting the coronavirus outbreak.

“No virus, no outbreak is stronger than Turkey,” said Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a letter addressed to the Turkish people who are older than 65 and restricted from leaving their homes due to pandemic.

On April 8, Turkey began distributing face masks and cologne, a traditional ethanol-based scented disinfectant, for people in the risk groups, including 65-year-plus and people suffering from chronic illnesses.

The letter was included in packages of hygiene kit sent to Turkish citizens.

Construction of field hospital at Istanbul airport site begins
[Hurriyet Daily News] Construction work to build a field hospital at the site of the now-closed Atatürk Airport in Istanbul has begun.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced earlier this week two more hospitals with a capacity of 1,000 beds each will be established in the country’s largest city as part of efforts in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

One of the field hospitals will be developed in the Sancaktepe district on the Asian side of Istanbul, while the other planned health facility will be established at the site of the Atatürk Airport.

“We will complete them quickly within 45 days and open them to the service of our people,” Erdoğan said in a speech he delivered on April 6.

A number of trucks and heavy construction equipment arrived at the construction site yesterday morning and building work began on a land plot belonging to the General Directorate of State Airports authority (DHMİ).

Construction work for the Sancaktepe facility already commenced on April 7, shortly after Erdoğan unveiled the plans for the field hospitals.


Coronavirus death toll rises to 87, with 38,226 total cases
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkey's death toll from the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
 outbreak increased by 87 to 812 on April 8, while the number of confirmed cases from the disease rose by 4,117 to 38,226, the Health Minister said.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases surged to 38,226 as 4,117 more people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told via a Twitter post.

So far, a total of 1,846 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals, Koca said, stressing the rise in the recovery rate.

He also said 24,900 tests were conducted on April 8, with the overall number of tests conducted so far hitting 247,768. Turkey is currently treating 1,492 patients in intensive care units,
Posted by: Fred 2020-04-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=568221