ISTANBUL
Turkey on Wednesday confirmed over 130,000 recoveries as the country began easing measures against the novel coronavirus, according to the Health Ministry.
The total number of recoveries from the disease hit 130,852 as 931 more patients were discharged from hospitals over the past day, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters after a meeting of the country's Coronavirus Advisory Board in the capital Ankara.
Some 867 new cases were reported in the country, bringing the total to 166,422, Koca added.
The death toll from the outbreak rose to 4,609 as the country reported 24 new fatalities over the last 24 hours.
Healthcare professionals performed over 52,305 more tests for the virus in the last 24 hours, raising the overall number to over 2.15 million.
Currently, some 612 patients are being treated in intensive care, the ministry data showed.
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 over 382,000 people worldwide, with more than 6.43 million confirmed cases, while recoveries surpassed 2.76 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.
