By Davut Demircan
ANKARA (AA) – Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic and other news in Turkey and around the world.
– COVID-19 in Turkey
Active novel coronavirus cases in Turkey continued to fall Saturday with 612 more recoveries than new infections in the past 24 hours, said the country's health minister.
A total of 1,984 people beat COVID-19 during that time, bringing the overall count to 169,182.
The death toll from the virus rose to 5,082 as it reported 17 new fatalities in the past 24 hours. A total of 1,372 new infections brought the number of cases to 195,883.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca noted the rising number of cases and asked the nation to adhere to protective measures against the virus.
Three opposition lawmakers from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Saturday.
– Coronavirus outbreak across world
Since first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.
The pandemic has killed more than 498,000 people worldwide, with an excess of 9.9 million confirmed cases and greater than 5 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University.
Serbia’s defense minister and parliament speaker tested positive for COVID-19.
Daily coronavirus cases in Russia remained below 7,000 for a second day in a row Saturday. With 188 more fatalities, the death toll from the virus reached 8,969.
Over the past day, 6,852 new cases were confirmed, taking the tally to 627,646, according to the emergency task force.
For the fifth day in a row, Spain saw a rising number of COVID-19 cases as the Health Ministry reported 564 new infections, raising the tally to 248,469.
In the past week, 1,862 people in Spain tested positive for the disease. The Health Ministry registered three more COVID-19 deaths, bringing the number of fatalities there to 28,341.
British health authorities announced 100 more people died from the novel coronavirus across the UK in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 43,514.
– Turkey's fight against terror
Turkish security forces "neutralized" nine PKK terrorists as part of Operation Claw-Tiger in northern Iraq, the National Defense Ministry said Saturday.
Terrorists were targeted by Turkish commandos in the Haftanin region, the ministry said on Twitter.
A PKK terrorist was caught Saturday in southeastern Turkey who conducted an attack in Diyarbakır in 2016 with a bomb-laden vehicle that martyred five members from the same family.
Separately, a terrorist was caught in Mardin province who was identified as a "miner and bomber" for the PKK terror organization.
– Other developments
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) prime minister Ersin Tatar discussed bilateral relations, regional issues, cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 and flights between two countries — which will resume July 1.
Turkish Foreign Ministry's spokesman Hami Aksoy responded to the High Representative of the EU Josep Borrell's proposal, which plans to bring together Turkey and the Greek Cypriot administration.
The proposals of the EU on the Cyprus issue, "which have never referred to the equal rights of the Turkish Cypriots on the island's natural resources, are "far from serious," he said in a statement.
Ireland’s new coalition government has elected Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin as the new Taoiseach (prime minister) on Saturday.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) called on Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz to end the occupation of Palestinian lands and halt the annexation of the occupied West Bank before demanding negotiations.
Meanwhile, Libya’s Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and Italian premier Giuseppe Conte met in Rome to discuss the situation in the northern African nation.
India deployed advanced quick-reaction surface-to-air missile defense systems, called Akash, on its borders with China in the northern Himalayan region of Ladakh.
The deployment comes after the Chinese side was increasing fighter aircraft and helicopter activities along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border that divides India and China in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir.
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