UPDATE - Turkey reports 1,581 new coronavirus cases

ADDS FURTHER REMARKS FROM SCIENCE COMMITTEE

By Dilara Hamit and Baris Gundogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey reported 1,581 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 1,355 recoveries over the past 24 hours, the country's Health Ministry said Wednesday.

The overall case count now stands at 329,138, with recoveries totaling 288,954, according to ministry data.

A total of 116,608 COVID-19 tests were conducted over the past 24 hours, bringing the overall tally to over 11.16 million.

The death toll from the virus reached 8,609 with 56 more fatalities.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter that there was a downward trend in the number of patients in critical condition, adding this number could be reduced with early treatment.

The figures also showed that the number of patients in critical condition currently stands at 1,411, while 6.2% are suffering from pneumonia.

The Health Ministry’s Scientific Committee on COVID-19 also announced that the number of tests will be increased except for suspected contact cases.

According to a statement from the ministry, the committee convened under the chairmanship of the health minister and evaluated the latest developments related to the pandemic.

It said there are five vaccines that are close to being ready for use on humans.

Following the completion of experimental trials on animals, the first production phase for human studies has begun and production of the other four candidate vaccines are close.

COVID-19 has claimed more than 1.05 million lives in 188 countries and regions since first being detected in Wuhan, China in December.

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

Over 35.9 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries surpassing 25 million, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University.