Turkey's Parliament passes bill protecting healthcare workers

Amid the fight against coronavirus, Turkey’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill meant to protect from violence the people on the fight's front line, its healthcare workers.

The law will strengthen penalties for violence towards healthcare workers.

Under the law, penalties for threatening, insulting, injuring, or hindering healthcare workers from doing their duties is increased 50 percent.

Turkey's "healthcare army" includes over a million medical staffers and support personnel fighting coronavirus, according to remarks by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Tuesday.

Turkey has so far reported 69,392 Covid-19 cases, and the death toll stands at 1,518.

Since appearing in China last December, the virus has spread to at least 185 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center.

More than 2 million cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with over 130,000 deaths, and more than half a million recovered.