Turkey: Coronavirus recoveries at nearly 120,000

ISTANBUL / ANKARA

Turkey on Sunday confirmed nearly 120,000 recoveries from coronavirus as the country began easing measures against the pandemic, according to the Health Ministry.

Some 1,141 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the country, bringing the total to 156,827, said Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Twitter.

Recoveries from the disease hit 118,694 as 1,092 more patients were discharged from hospitals over the past day, Koca added.

The death toll from the outbreak rose to 4,340 as the country reported 32 new fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to ministry data.

While the number of new cases topped the recovery figure for the first time in recent days, Koca explained: "The variability in the number of new cases is at the expected level."

Healthcare professionals did over 24,500 new tests for the virus, raising the overall number to over 1.83 million.

There are currently 769 patients in intensive care, the data showed.

Since first appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.

The US, Russia, Brazil, and several European countries are currently the hardest hit in the world.

The pandemic has killed nearly 343,000 people worldwide, with more than 5.34 million confirmed cases, while recoveries around 2.14 million, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.