WHO official praises Turkey’s fight against coronavirus

WASHINGTON

A World Health Organization (WHO) official praised Turkey's efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic Thursday.

"Turkey is an exemplary country thanks to its diagnostic capacity and tremendous efforts in treatment in its fight against COVID-19," Pavel Ursu, the WHO's representative for Turkey, said on Twitter.

On March 11, Turkey became the last major nation to report a coronavirus case and confirmed its first death from the disease on March 17 -- an 89-year-old man.

Since then, the authorities have tightened restrictions to stymy the spread of the virus, including shutting down non-essential businesses, shopping malls and intercity travel.

"Turkey is also running this process transparently by sharing accurate case and mortality data electronically," Ursu wrote.

As of Thursday, 908 have died from the virus while a total of 42,282 have been infected, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, who reports the data on a daily basis.

More than 2,100 have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals, he said.

After originating in Wuhan, China last December, COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has spread to at least 184 countries and regions across the world, with its epicenter shifting to Europe.

The pandemic has killed more than 95,000 people and infected nearly 1.6 million, while more than 354,000 people have recovered from the disease, according to figures collated by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.