Turkey's total confirmed cases stood at 74,193, Koca said. Some 1415 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, Koca added. The total number of recovered cases stood at 7,089 as of April 16.
Koca also said 40,427 tests were conducted over the past day, with the overall number of tests reaching 518,143.
Turkey is currently treating 1,854 patients in intensive care units, along with 1,040 intubated patients, according to the infographic Koca shared on Twitter.
On April 14, the minister had said that the rate of rise in coronavirus cases has been seeing a downward trend as in the fourth week of the outbreak in Turkey. The spread is “under control,” he added.
The overall screening is not the right method to get reliable results, Koca said. “We make progress by pinpointing [the target].”
Mentioning the filiation method of screening the chain of contact in infectious disease, he said Turkey uses the method to reach people infected by the coronavirus, monitor them, and isolate the diagnosed for treatment.
Family physicians played an important role in the filiation process, he said.