Turkey: Coronavirus recoveries top 200,000 mark

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's health minister announced on Saturday 1,179 more recoveries from coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to over 201,013.

The nationwide count of infections rose to 218,717, as 918 more cases were reported over the past 24 hours, Fahrettin Koca wrote on Twitter citing Health Ministry data.

The country's death toll from the virus rose to 5,475, with 17 new fatalities reported.

Healthcare professionals conducted a total of 40,943 tests for the disease in the past day, raising the overall count to over 4.23 million.

Koca said that five provinces with the highest number of cases in the last three days were Istanbul, Ankara, Gaziantep, Konya and Diyarbakir while five provinces with the least number of cases were Artvin, Tunceli, Bayburt, Kırklareli and Bartin.

Since originating in China last December, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 597,000 lives in 188 countries and regions.

More than 14 million cases have been reported worldwide, while over 7.9 million patients have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.