Turkey reports over 2,400 more coronavirus patients

ANKARA

Turkey registered 2,483 more novel coronavirus patients over the past 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data released Saturday.

The country's overall tally now stands at 391,739, the ministry said.

A total of 1,928 more patients recovered over the past day, raising the tally to 336,221, while the death toll rose by 81 to reach 10,803.

More than 139,600 more COVID-19 tests were carried out across the country, bringing the total to over 14.98 million.

The figures showed that the number of patients in critical condition currently stands at 2,730, with 4.7% this week suffering from pneumonia.

According to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, the number of COVID-19 cases and patients in critical condition is on the rise. “We must all follow the precautions until there is a safe vaccine,” he said on Twitter.

In a separate tweet, the minister said he met administrators of some hospitals in Istanbul to discuss the current situation.

He said the Samatya Istanbul Training and Research Hospital has been at the forefront of the fight against the virus.

“We discussed ways to increase the current capacity and also treatment methods [for COVID-19],” Koca said.

Across the world, COVID-19 has claimed more than 1.25 million lives in 190 countries and regions since last December.

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

Nearly 50 million cases have been reported worldwide, with some 33 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.