Turkey: Death toll from coronavirus rises to 2,491

By Havva Kara Aydin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Thursday confirmed 115 more fatalities from the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 2,491.

The total number of registered coronavirus cases surged to 101,790, as 3,116 more people tested positive for the virus, the Health Ministry said on Twitter.

So far, a total of 18,491 patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the virus, with 2,014 discharged on Thursday alone, the ministry added.

A total of 40,962 tests were conducted over the past 24 hours, with the total reaching 791,906.

"Today we are in a better condition than yesterday. We came to this point with a total of 791,906 tests, with none of them done by chance,” said Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.

To detect possible infections due to contact, screenings were done for each diagnosis, he added.

After originating in China last December, COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, has spread to at least 185 countries and regions across the world. Europe and the U.S. are currently the worst-hit regions.

The pandemic has killed over 186,000 people, with total infections exceeding 2.66 million, while over 727,000 have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.