Turkey confirms fourth death from novel coronavirus

ANKARA

Turkey confirmed its fourth death from the novel coronavirus late Thursday while noting that the number of new cases had risen by 168.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter that an 85-year-old woman had succumbed to the virus. He added that 168 out of 1,981 tests conducted in the past 24 hours had come back positive, bringing the total number of patients to 359 from 191.

"Our pain has increased, but we will succeed," he added.

COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China last December and has spread to at least 160 countries and territories. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a pandemic.

The number of confirmed cases totals 242,092 while the death toll now exceeds 9,800 and over 84,900 have recovered, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.