Turkey sees significant rise in number of COVID-19 recoveries

Turkey is seeing a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 recoveries, the country's Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The number of patients who recovered from the disease hit 121,507, as 1,492 more were discharged from hospitals over the past day, said Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Twitter.

Some 948 new cases of the virus were reported in the country, bringing the total to 158,762, Koca added.

The death toll from the outbreak rose to 4,397, as the country reported 28 new fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to ministry data.

Healthcare professionals also did over 19,800 more tests for the virus, raising the overall number to over 1.87 million.

Currently, some 739 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 nearly 348,000 people worldwide, with more than 5.54 million confirmed cases, while recoveries around 2.27 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.