Turkey confirms 1,226 new virus cases

Turkey on Friday registered 1,226 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the tally to 246,861.

A total of 923 patients have recovered from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, over the past day, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

Citing the Health Ministry data, Koca said the total number of recoveries had reached 228,980.

"The data show that there is an increase in the number of people who are in the risk group, due to their age or [pre-existing] condition, who have caught COVID-19," Koca said.

"Don't take risks outside and bring it [coronavirus] home. One sick person is one infected family," he warned.

The death toll in the country stood at 5,934 as 22 more people lost their lives over the past 24 hours.

Healthcare professionals conducted a record 70,192 tests to diagnose the disease over the past day, raising the tally to over 5.59 million.

Of those infected, 7.8% suffer from pneumonia.

Koca said the number of patients in critical condition increased to 656, up by nine.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed over 760,000 lives in 188 countries and regions since it originated in China last December.

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

Nearly 21 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries exceeding 13 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.