Turkey's COVID-19 death toll reached 5,046 with 21 new deaths Thursday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca confirmed.
The number of cases, meanwhile, increased by 1,458 to 193,115 with 52,303 tests carried out Thursday, the minister said on his Twitter account.
According to Koca, 1,472 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recovered patients to 165,706.
Turkey has so far carried out a total of 3,135,424 tests.
"There was an increase in the number of intensive care patients. However, the length of intensive care unit stay and total treatment time of our patients have been shortened," the minister said.
As of Tuesday, 941 COVID-19 patients were being treated in intensive care units, the minister added.
Since first appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.
The U.S., Brazil, Russia and several European countries are currently the hardest hit in the world.
