\u201cOur government\u2019s mobilization to produce all necessary medical supplies is bearing fruit. We will very soon start mass production of our nationally developed respirator \u2018Sahra,\u2019\u201d Fahrettin Altun said in a series of Tweets. \u201cWe\u2019re determined to ensure that Turkey will not need outside help for medical supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The indigenous mechanical breathing device named Sahra, or Desert, was announced last week by National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.<\/p>\n
Altun said Ankara has already sent medical supplies to 54 nations, including test kits, masks and gloves and \u201cTurkey is supporting so many nations and allies in this difficult time as a humanitarian duty.\u201d<\/p>\n
He highlighted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s global efforts \u201cto create a common response while helping nations individually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of his latest coronavirus diplomacy calls included Chancellor [Angela] Merkel and Emir [Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad] al-Thani. The discussions included the current crisis and the future,\u201d he said of telephone discussing Friday with the German and Qatari leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt home, we continue to support our citizens during Ramadan through an additional aid package of 176 million TL [$25 million],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll citizens will be allotted an additional 1 GB of internet to help them communicate with their loved ones,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Turning to Ramadan, he wished \u201cMuslims around the world a safe, healthy, and happy Ramadan\u201d with Friday the first day of the Muslim holy month.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur brothers & sisters around the world must know Turkey will always be there for them. As we plan steps for normalization at the end of Ramadan, we hope to celebrate Eid in a more healed world!,\u201d Altun said.<\/p>\n
After originating in China last December, COVID-19 has spread to at least 185 countries and regions.<\/p>\n
The pandemic has killed more than 195,900 people, with total infections nearing 2.8 million, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University. An excess of 781,300 patients have recovered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Turkey will “very soon start mass production” of indigenous respirators needed in the fight against the novel coronavirus, Ankara\u2019s communications director said Saturday. \u201cOur government\u2019s mobilization to produce all necessary medical supplies is bearing fruit. We will very soon start mass production of our nationally developed respirator \u2018Sahra,\u2019\u201d Fahrettin Altun said in a series of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":65580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,63,1,107,118,895,171,174,194,173,1165],"tags":[77171,78478],"class_list":["post-65579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-daily","category-general","category-health","category-hot","category-life","category-turkey","category-turkey-daily","category-turkey-general","category-turkey-headlines","category-turkey-life","tag-health","tag-turkey-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}