Erdogan’s Spokesman, Interior Minister Test Positive for Covid
Turkey’s Interior Minister Says He Tested Positive for Covid-19
(Bloomberg) --
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and the country’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Kalin said on Twitter Saturday that he was experiencing “mild symptoms” and was in the “final phase of treatment” for the infection.
Earlier, Soylu said on Twitter that he had tested positive, becoming the country’s first cabinet member to get the virus. Soylu, a member of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, said he got his test result on Oct. 26 and was hospitalized on his doctor’s recommendation. His wife and daughter were also infected.
Neither Kalin nor Soylu said in their Twitter messages when they had last come into contact with Erdogan.
Turkey’s Covid-19 death toll has topped 10,000, with the government barring public health workers from quitting or retiring amid a surge in cases. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Oct. 28 that the Interior Ministry would start implementing an existing midnight ban on music at restaurants and cafes at an earlier hour to help slow the outbreak.
The government stopped disclosing figures for all confirmed cases in July, instead only releasing numbers for symptomatic patients.
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