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Nine patients were killed on Saturday in a fire in the Covid-19 emergency ward of a hospital in southern Turkey.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter that the fire broke out when an oxygen tank exploded.
The fire in the emergency room of the Sanko University Hospital in Gaziantep was quickly brought under control, according to a report by the state news agency Anadolu, an investigation into the cause had been initiated.
According to a statement from the hospital, the dead were between 56 and 85 years old.
14 more patients had been moved to other clinics, it said.
According to official reports, 74 percent of the intensive care beds in Turkish hospitals are occupied because of the corona pandemic.
However, medical associations report significantly higher numbers and are already reporting that the health system is threatened with overload.
The Turkish Ministry of Health reported 26,410 new infections on Friday evening.
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That figure also includes the asymptomatic cases, which Turkey hadn't counted for four months until the end of November.
This led to criticism that the government was trying to cover up the real extent of the pandemic in the country.
A new high in daily deaths was also reported on Friday: 246.