ANKARA 

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%.

Turkey's “healthcare army” includes nearly half a million medical staffers and 360,000 support personnel fighting coronavirus, according to remarks by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier this month.

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 U.S.' 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.