ISTANBUL 

An average of 1,000 patients in Turkey recover from coronavirus every day and as many new cases are reported, the country's health minister said Sunday.

A total of 997 more recoveries from coronavirus were reported in the country over the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to over 202,010, Fahrettin Koca wrote on Twitter citing Health Ministry data.

"Our target: an increase in the number of recoveries, a decrease in the number of new cases," he added.

The nationwide count of infections rose to 219,641, as 924 more cases were reported over the past 24 hours,

The country's death toll from the virus rose to 5,491, with 16 new fatalities reported.

Healthcare professionals conducted a total of 41,310 tests for the disease in the past day, raising the overall count to over 4.27 million.

Since originating in China last December, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 602,000 lives in 188 countries and regions.

More than 14.31 million cases have been reported worldwide, while over 8 million patients have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.