Number of Turkey's recovered COVID-19 patients nears 132,000 - health ministry

Turkey on Thursday confirmed 926 additional recoveries from the pandemic as the country began easing measures against the novel coronavirus, according to the health minister.

The total number of recoveries from the disease hit 131,778 as 926 more patients were discharged from hospitals over the past day, Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter, citing the Health Ministry data.

The country's death toll from the outbreak rose to 4,630 as Turkey reported 21 new fatalities over the last 24 hours.

Healthcare professionals conducted 54,234 tests for the virus in the past 24 hours, raising the total number to more than 2.2 million.

According to the test results, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country reached 167,410 with 988 new infections.

Currently, some 602 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 387,500 people worldwide, with more than 6.56 million confirmed cases, while recoveries surpassed 2.83 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.