Turkey's coronavirus tests near 13.5M mark

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - To date Turkey has done nearly 13.5 million coronavirus tests, according to Health Ministry data released on Tuesday.

A total of 1,511 more people won their battle against the novel pandemic over the past 24 hours, bringing the tally of recoveries to 317,519, the ministry said.

Turkey reported 76 new COVID-19 fatalities over the past day, bringing the total death toll to 9,950, the data showed.

The country's healthcare workers did 127,651 tests for the virus in the past 24 hours nationwide, raising the total count to more than 13.47 million.

The number of patients in critical condition currently stands at 1,827, with 5% this week suffering from pneumonia, said the figures.

On Twitter, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said: "We cannot be successful unless the number of patients in critical condition and active patients are brought down."

Across the world, COVID-19 has claimed more than 1.16 million lives in 189 countries and regions since last December.

The US, India, and Brazil are currently the worst-hit countries.

Over 43.6 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries exceeding 29 million, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.