Turkey's coronavirus tests pass 5M mark

By Seda Sevencan and Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey has run over 5 million coronavirus tests since its outbreak in the country in early March, the health minister announced on Wednesday.

Health care professionals conducted 53,842 tests for COVID-19 over the past day, raising the tally to over 5.02 million, Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

A total of 1,015 more people won their battle against COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the tally of recoveries to 219,506.

Citing Health Ministry data, Koca said that 1,178 more people contracted coronavirus in the past day, bringing the total number of cases nationwide to 236,112.

The country's death toll from the disease rose to 5,784, with 19 new fatalities registered in the last 24 hours.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 702,000 lives in 188 countries and regions since it originated in China last December. The US, Brazil, India, and Russia are currently the worst-hit countries in the world.

More than 18.6 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries exceeding 11.17 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.