Turkey: COVID-19 cases top 181,000 mark

By Burak Bir and Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Tuesday confirmed 1,467 more cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total tally to 181,298, according to its health minister.

The total number of recoveries from the disease reached 153,379, while 732 patients remain in intensive care, Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter, citing the Health Ministry data.

The country's death toll from the virus rose to 4,842, as it reported 17 more fatalities in the past 24 hours.

Health care professionals conducted nearly 47,000 tests to detect the disease in the past day, raising the total count to over 2.72 million.

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

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

The pandemic has killed over 438,000 people worldwide, with more than 8.07 million confirmed cases and over 3.9 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.