Turkey: Nearly 90,000 people recover from coronavirus

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) - Nearly 90,000 patients have so far recovered in Turkey from the novel coronavirus, the country’s health minister said on Saturday.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the total number of recovered patients reached 89,480.

The death toll from the pandemic rose to 3,739 as the country saw 50 more deaths, while 3,084 patients recovered over the past 24 hours, Koca said on Twitter.

The country registered 1,546 new cases, bringing the tally to 137,115, he noted, citing Health Ministry data.

As many as 35,605 tests were conducted over the last 24 hours, raising the total number of tests to more than 1.33 million, the minister added.

He highlighted the decline in the number of patients at intensive care units and new cases.

Over 3.97 million cases have been reported in 187 countries since the virus emerged in China last December, with the hardest-hit areas being the US and Europe.

A significant proportion of COVID-19 patients -- over 1.34 million -- have recovered, but the disease has claimed more than 276,400 lives, according to data compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.