ISTANBUL
Turkey on Wednesday saw a slight increase in the number of novel coronavirus cases and deaths, while recoveries increased to nearly 80,000, the country's health minister said.
A total of 78,202 people have recovered so far from COVID-19 in Turkey, Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
The death toll from the pandemic rose to 3,584 as Turkey saw 64 more fatalities in the past 24 hours, he added.
The country recorded 2,253 new cases, bringing the tally to 131,744, Koca added.
Also, over 30,303 additional tests have been conducted over the last 24 hours, and the total number of tests has so far exceeded 1.23 million.
Also, the number of ICU patients and those on ventilators continued to drop, Koca added.
He also pointed out though there had been a limited increase in new cases, this had been expected and was the result of lifting stay-home orders after the weekend across 31 provinces.
"The virus uses every opportunity it finds. We must comply with the measures," he added.
COVID-19 cases have been reported in 187 countries and regions since it emerged in China last December, with the US and Europe now the hardest-hit areas.
The pandemic has killed more than 258,000 worldwide, with total infections over 3.69 million, while recoveries surpassed 1.21 million, according to figures compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.
