Turkey's coronavirus caseload nears 200,000
A man, wearing a protective mask against the spread of coronavirus, uses disinfectant from a public station on Istiklal street, the main shopping street in Istanbul, Thursday, June 18, 2020. (AP Photo)


Turkey has recorded 1,293 new cases of COVID-19 and 16 deaths in the past 24 hours, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Tuesday.

With this latest update, the death toll in Turkey from the coronavirus pandemic rose to 5,131. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey, meanwhile, has reached 199,906.

The number of recovered patients reached 173,111 with 1,302 additions in the past 24 hours.

"We are not being decisive or careful enough in reducing the number of cases," Koca tweeted as total caseload continues to rise at a rate above 1,000 since June 12.

Healthcare professionals have conducted over 50,000 tests for the disease since Monday, raising the total count to over 3.38 million.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed over 506,000 lives in 188 countries and regions since it originated in China last December. The U.S., Brazil, Russia and India are currently the worst-hit countries in the world.

More than 10.3 million COVID-19 cases have been reported around the world so far, with recoveries exceeding 5.26 million, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.