Turkish Red Crescent helps Armenian families in Turkey

The Turkish Red Crescent delivered 200 food packages to an Armenian church in Istanbul as part of measures to combat economic fallout of the novel coronavirus, the aid agency said Friday.

Surp Vartanants Armenian Church in the Feriköy neighborhood of Istanbul's Şişli district received the supplies that will be distributed to the city's Armenian population.

Red Crescent board member Ercan Tan said that the agency's relief operations continue as the number of people in need is increasing due to the coronavirus epidemic.

"We handed [the aid] over to the Surp Vartanants Armenian Church to distribute it to those in need, and this will be sufficient for 25 days for about 1,500-2,000 people," Tan added.

Murat Oger, the head of Surp Vartanants Armenian Church Foundation, thanked the agency for the supplies and said: "Red Crescent, one of the most important institutions of our country, has also rushed to the aid of the people in Feriköy."

Turkey currently has 133,721 confirmed cases, and the death toll stands at 3,641.

The virus emerged in Wuhan, China last December, and has spread to at least 187 countries and territories. Europe and the US are currently the worst-hit regions.

The global death toll from the pandemic surpassed 270,000, with total infections over 3.86 million, while recoveries have passed 1.29 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.