Turkey's coronavirus recoveries near 125,000 threshold

Turkey on Thursday confirmed more than 124,000 recoveries from coronavirus as the country began lifting restrictions against the pandemic, according to the Health Ministry.

Some 1,182 new cases were reported in the country, bringing the total to 160,979, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

Recoveries from the disease hit 124,369 as 1,576 more patients were discharged from hospitals over the past day, Koca added.

The death toll from the outbreak rose to 4,461 as the country reported 30 new fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to the ministry data.

Healthcare professionals performed over 33,550 more tests for the virus, raising the overall number to over 1.92 million.

Currently, some 683 patients are being treated in intensive care, the data showed.

Since first appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.

The US, Russia, Brazil, and several European countries are currently the hardest hit in the world.

The pandemic has killed over 357,700 people worldwide, with more than 5.92 million confirmed cases, while recoveries surpassed 2.38 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.