Turkey records 1,743 new COVID-19 cases, 1,202 recoveries

Children wearing protective face masks walk with their mothers on the first day schools opened to kindergarten and first grade students, in Mersin, southern Turkey, Sept. 21, 2020. (AA Photo)

by DAILY SABAH

Sep 21, 2020 7:58 pm

Turkey on Monday recorded 1,743 new COVID-19 cases and 68 deaths in the past 24 hours.

"The number of our seriously ill patients approached 1,500," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca wrote on Twitter on Monday evening.

"We must reduce the burden on our health care professionals in order to continue their devoted work. This can only happen by following the precautions," he urged.

The Health Ministry data showed 112,942 tests were carried out across the country in the past 24 hours and 1,202 COVID-19 patients recovered from the virus.

The country's overall case count now stands at 304,610, with 268,435 recoveries. The death toll from the coronavirus has reached 7,574.

Across the world, COVID-19 has claimed over 961,600 lives in 188 countries and regions since last December.

The U.S., India, Brazil and Russia are currently the worst-hit countries.

More than 31.12 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries exceeding 21.28 million, according to figures compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.