Turkish Health Minister Fakhruddin Kuja said on Saturday that the number of cases of coronavirus in the country has risen to 82,329 to become the highest in the Middle East, bypassing Iran for the first time.
Turkey recorded an increase of 3,783 confirmed cases, within 24 hours, which also brought it closer to the total number of cases in China where the disease appeared.
According to Kuja, 121 people died in that period, which raised the total number of deaths in the country to 1890, and 1822 patients recovered so far, and the number of examinations conducted in 24 hours reached 40,520.
The Ministry of Interior confirmed that it had extended travel restrictions between 31 cities for an additional 15 days, as of midnight on Saturday.
Turkey redoubled its efforts to contain the novel corona epidemic, after schools closed, flights suspended and gatherings banned.
Earlier, the Turkish parliament passed a law allowing the release of tens of thousands of prisoners to ease prison overcrowding and protect detainees from infection with the coronavirus.
Parliament announced on Twitter that "the project became law after its approval", and NGOs criticized the text, which excludes prisoners on "terrorism" charges, including journalists and political opponents.
The deputy speaker of the Turkish Parliament said that the Justice and Development Party, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the right-wing Nationalist Movement party allied with him, supported the bill, which was passed by parliament by a majority of 279 votes to 51.
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