Turkey reports nearly 1,500 new recoveries from COVID-19

By Seda Sevencan and Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA (AA) – A total of 1,493 people recovered from the novel coronavirus in Turkey over the last day, bringing the total number to date to 191,883, said the country's health minister on Friday.

"The fall in the number of newly diagnosed patients -- that started on June 25 -- continues. We are very close to [have the number] drop below 1,000," Fahrettin Koca said.

"However, don't forget that these drops are slow, while rises are sudden. The rises and falls depend on high or low compliance with the rules of social distancing and [wearing] masks," Koca added.

Turkey saw 1,003 new cases of COVID-19 over the past day, bringing the total number of infections nationwide to 210,965, the data showed.

The country's death toll from the virus rose to 5,323, with 23 new fatalities reported in the last 24 hours.

Healthcare professionals conducted a total of 48,787 tests for the disease over the past day, raising the overall count to over 3.88 million.

Across the world, COVID-19 has claimed over 556,200 lives in 188 countries and regions since emerging in China last December.

Over 12.33 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the US, Brazil, India, and Russia currently the worst-hit countries, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

The data shows more than half of total patients worldwide – over 6.78 million – have recovered so far.