Fahrettin Koca

Turkish doctors wearing PPE hold placards reading 'you cannot manage, we are exhausted, we die' during a protest in front of the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, 15 September 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/TOLGA BOZOGLU

Türkiye may face a new wave of COVID infections as the actual number of coronavirus infections is more than detected, experts have warned.

As people have stopped wearing face masks while traveling on public transport or indoor spaces, it has triggered the recent spike in coronavirus cases, the experts said.

A young woman named Busenur Doğanay, residing on a basement floor in Ankara's Keçiören district, has died due to floods that occurred after a heavy downpour in the city, Ankara Governor Vasip Şahin has said, adding that the search for the missing person continues.

Fahrettin Koca, Türkiye's health minister, has said the bad days of the coronavirus pandemic are over and refused the allegations that face masks will be mandatory again in the fall.

With the rise of the number of infections, an assertion that citizens will be forced to wear face masks again in the up-coming months sensationalized the social media last week.

A total of 7,556 COVID-19 cases were reported in Turkey between June 6 and 12, the Health Ministry said in its weekly coronavirus statistics. 

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca had previously announced that the ministry would stop publishing daily statistics after the number of cases started to decline.

Turkey has no monkeypox virus cases as the latest tests on four suspected patients have emerged negative, the country's health minister has said.

"Tests have been made on four patients suspected to be infected with monkeypox in Istanbul. All are negative," Fahrettin Koca tweeted late on June 4.

Turkey has scrapped a mandate for wearing face masks on public transport, though people will still be required to have them on in hospitals, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has announced.

Turkey will lift the indoor face mask mandate fully within 10 days, an expert from the Health Ministry's Science Board has said.

"Daily infections decrease day by day, and this is a great achievement [against the coronavirus]," Nurettin Yiyit told İhlas News Agency.

Mandatory use of protective face masks is no longer required for millions of students and teachers in Turkey, as the government eased measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in a historic move on April 26.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has shown hints that the end of the coronavirus pandemic is nearing while visiting tradesmen in the southeastern province of Adıyaman unmasked and shaking hands with them.

"We are going back to our old days when measures or curbs did not exist," Koca said on April 25.