Firemen work to extinguish a fire at a hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. File/Reuters

Gulf Today Report

A fire in a private hospital's COVID-19 intensive care unit killed eight people on Saturday in southern Turkey, state-run media reported.

The governor's office in the southeastern province of Gaziantep said the explosion of an oxygen ventilator caused the fire.

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The office added that 11 other patients receiving treatment in the unit were transferred to nearby hospitals.

Passengers stand next to a bus as they arrive from the airport outside Ankara, Turkey. File/AP

The Anadolu news agency said the fire started when an oxygen cylinder exploded at the privately-run Sanko University Hospital unit.

The agency cited a hospital statement identifying the victims as being aged between 56 and 85. The fire was quickly brought under control.

Intensive care units across Turkey currently have a 74% bed occupancy rate due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to government figures, although medical associations have claimed that hospitals are overrun.

On Friday evening, the Health Ministry reported 26,410 new cases over the previous 24 hours, bringing the total since March to 1.98 million. The figure includes asymptomatic cases that Ankara did not report in the four months to late November.

A record daily high of 246 COVID-19-related deaths were recorded, the ministry said, taking the total to 17,610.