A total of 1,372 more people have been infected with COVID-19, while 17 others have died from the disease over the past 24 hours, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Saturday.
According to a chart posted by Koca on Twitter, the total number of cases in the country has risen to 195,883, while the death toll has reached 5,082 with the latest additions.
“The number of those who recovered today is 612 more than the number of new cases. This difference was 96 yesterday [Friday]. Among those who tested positive [for COVID-19) over the past 14 days, 5.68 percent were age of 17 and below, while 63 percent were aged between 25-45. The number of new cases is 24 fewer than it was yesterday. When this downward trend continues, we can go below 1,000 [daily cases] in just two weeks,” tweeted Koca.
Over the past several days the number of new infections has been fluctuating, although it was on an upward trajectory after an easing of anti-coronavirus measures by the Turkish government as of June 1.
The chart indicated that 1,984 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours.
Turkey conducted 45,213 tests for the coronavirus over the past day, bringing the overall number of tests carried out so far to 3,231,835.
The chart showed that 169,182 people have recovered in Turkey since the start of the outbreak, while 984 patients are in intensive care, 366 of whom are on ventilators.
Turkey reported its first COVID-19 case on March 11. The country eased preventative measures at the start of June, opening shopping malls, cafes, restaurants and mosques.