By Havva Kara Aydin and Handan Kazanci
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey on Tuesday confirmed a record 3,218 daily recoveries from the novel coronavirus as the country continues easing measures against the pandemic, according to its health minister.
The total number of recoveries from the disease hit 144,598 as 3,218 more patients were discharged from hospitals over the past day, Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter, citing Health Ministry data.
"In the last 24 hours, the number of the new registries are one-third of the number of the recovered patients. Due to new diagnoses, the need for intensive care and ventilator support increased," he said.
The country's death toll from the virus rose to 4,729, as it reported 18 new fatalities over the last 24 hours.
Healthcare professionals performed 37,225 tests for the disease in the past 24 hours, raising the total number to more than 2.4 million.
According to test results, the total number of COVID-19 cases nationwide reached 172,114 with 993 new infections.
Since first appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.
The US, Brazil, Russia and several European countries are currently the hardest hit in the world.
The pandemic has killed nearly 408,000 people worldwide, with over 7.16 million confirmed cases and more than 3.3 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.
