Covid-19: Turkey Reports Highest Daily Cases in Two Weeks, Announces New Drug

Favipiravir, an antiviral used for Covid treament, is sold under the Avigan name in Japan. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

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Turkey's death toll from the coronavirus pandemic rose to 4,778 as the Health Ministry reported 15 new fatalities for the past 24 hours.

The total number of Covid-19 cases reached 175,218 with 1,195 new infections. Daily new cases exceeded 1,000 for the first time in two weeks. The increase came six days after the government lifted weekend curfew for larger cities. The number of patients in intensive care and on ventilators also increaed for the second day in a row.

"The rise in the number of intensive care and intubated patients is within the range of expected increase. The spread of the virus is due to a false optimism," Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a tweet and urged people to follow the measures of using face masks, social distancing and hygiene rules.

Here are today's numbers:

A local synthesis of "favipiravir" drug

Turkey has produced the country's first-ever domestic drug synthesis to be used against the new coronavirus, the Minister of Industry and Technology, Mustafa Varank, said in a written statement.

"It is a source of both happiness and pride that the drug has reached the licensing stage," he said.

The local synthesis of the drug named Favipiravir, which is produced in Japan and used in the treatment of Covid-19, has been developed with the cooperation of the Industry and Technology Ministry, Health Ministry, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), İstanbul Medipol University and Atabay İlaç, a pharmaceutical company.

The team of 32 scientists has developed the drug produced by synthesizing it with a domestic raw material in just 40 days.

The local synthesis of the Favipiravir drug is one of the projects that has been launched under the Covid-19 Turkey Platform where research and development works have been ongoing regarding the drug and vaccine development.

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Mustafa Güzel, one of the coordinators of the project, stated that the local drug development project has been conducted with the collaboration of the industry and academia.

The team started to work about 5-6 weeks ago, Güzel said. "Believe me, I did not think it could be so fast, but with the national mobilization, everyone got close. We achieved this with team spirit."

Since first appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.

The US, Brazil, Russia and several European countries are currently the hardest hit in the world.

The pandemic has killed over 422,700 people worldwide, with more than 7.55 million confirmed cases and over 3.57 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

Daily fatalities, cases and tests reported by the Health Ministry:

(VK)