Turkish virus cases surge past Iran, then China

The number of coronavirus cases in Turkey rose to 86,306 on Tuesday, overtaking China only a day after it overtook Iran.

Turkey reported its first coronavirus patient as recently as March 10.

It now has the highest total outside Europe and the US, and is the worst-affected country in the Middle East and the seventh-worst in the world.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 127 more people had died, taking the death toll to 2,017.