Turkey calls to dedicate 2021 to health staff

ANKARA

Honoring the efforts of medical workers against the novel coronavirus pandemic, Turkey's health minister on Friday called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to designate 2021 as the international year of healthcare professionals.

"In order to crown the sacrifices of our healthcare professionals, we voiced our proposal to make 2021 the Year of Health Workers worldwide through diplomatic channels to the World Health Organization," Fahrettin Koca said at the Turkic Council's Health Scientific Board Meeting.

Citing the rising coronavirus statistics across the world, Koca said such surges have remained under control in Turkey since the beginning of the pandemic.

Turkey, overall, has been successful in the face of the pandemic with its strong health infrastructure and devoted healthcare professionals under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he added.

As of Thursday, Turkey had registered a total of 10,099 deaths due to the coronavirus, while over 320,762 people have recovered from the disease. Currently, there are more than 370,832 confirmed cases in the country.

Across the world, COVID-19 has claimed more than 1.18 million lives in 190 countries and regions since last December.

The US, India, and Brazil are currently the worst-hit countries.

Over 45 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries exceeding 30.3 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.