Turkey reports over 1,800 new virus patients

Turkey registered 1,815 new coronavirus patients in the last 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data released on Sunday.

The country's overall tally now stands at 347,493, the ministry reported.

Some 1,504 more patients recovered over the past day, raising the count to 304,003, while the death toll increased by 72 to reach 9,296.

Around 101,400 more COVID-19 tests were carried out across the country, taking the total to over 12.4 million.

The figures showed that the number of patients in critical condition currently stands at 1,427, with 5.9% this week suffering from pneumonia.

In a tweet, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said: "We have to decrease the number of active cases and patients in critical condition."

Koca called on the Turkish nation to continue to fight against the virus all together.

Across the world, COVID-19 has claimed more than 1.11 million lives in 189 countries and regions since last December.

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

Over 39.77 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries exceeding 27.34 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.