Turkey has replaced Iran as the hardest-hit nation by the coronavirus pandemic in the Middle East as the number of confirmed cases reached 82,329.
The number surged to 82,329 after 3,783 new cases were confirmed on Saturday, according to the media report.
Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koc said, “The death toll reached 1,890 in the country after 121 new fatalities were reported”.
A total of 10,453 patients have recovered since the outbreak of the virus in the country in mid-March.
It was the sixth day that the official fatality rate has dropped in the Middle East’s worst-hit country.
Ever since the country reported its first deaths two months ago, there has been speculation abroad that the tolls are higher than officially announced.
On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inspected the construction zones of two COVID-19 hospitals in Istanbul from the air by a helicopter which are expected to provide full capacity service with its 1,008 beds each when completed.
As of Saturday, the number of confirmed cases in Iran reached 80,868, with the emergence of 1,374 new infections.
Turkey is set to replace Iran as the top country in the region with the most confirmed coronavirus cases as it has been witnessing daily fast growth in the new infections since it reported the first case on March 11.
The government and the President Hassan Rouhani has struggled to contain the outbreak and keep Iran’s fragile and sanctions-hit economy running.
An increase of 3,783 cases in the last 24 hours also pushed Turkey’s confirmed tally within a few hundred of China, where the novel coronavirus first emerged, according to the report.