COVID-19 death toll increases to 277 in Turkey

2 April 2020 14:46 (UTC+04:00)

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As many as 63 more people died of coronavirus in Turkey in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll from the infection to 277, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, Trend reports referring to Anadolu news agency.

According to him, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country climbed to 15,679, as 2,148 more people tested positive in the past 24 hours.

The minister also added that a total of 333 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals since the beginning of the outbreak.

Some 979 patients are being treated at intensive care units.

Also, 14,396 tests were conducted in the country in the past 24 hours and the number of overall tests carried out so far stood at 106,799.

The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The number of people killed by the disease has surpassed 47,000. Over 937,000 people have been confirmed as infected. Meanwhile, over 194,000 people have reportedly recovered.

Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.

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