Turkey denies claims of inaccurate COVID-19 data
- Türkiye
- Anadolu Agency
- Published Date: 09:07 | 30 March 2020
- Modified Date: 03:25 | 30 March 2020
Turkey's health minister criticized social media early Monday over allegations that official data on the novel coronavirus is inaccurate.
"Claims on social media that there is an incoherency in the data we announced are completely unfounded," Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
"The numerical data announced is based directly on COVID-19 diagnosis data. It is instant and real-time data," Koca said, referring to the official name of the novel coronavirus.
"It is useless to distort the facts," he added.
As of Sunday, Turkey has 9,217 confirmed cases and the death toll stands at 131.
The novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China in December. There are currently more than 720,000 cases worldwide and over 33,800 reported deaths with over 149,000 recoveries, according to U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.
Despite the severity of the virus, most people experience mild symptoms and recover.