Ankara, Aug 15 (IANS): Turkey's COVID-19 cases in risk groups are increasing, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

"The number of severe patients rose to 656. The data showed that there is an increase in the number of people who are in the risk groups due to their age or disease and who were infected with COVID-19," the minister tweeted on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Turkey confirmed 1,226 new COVID-19 cases on the day, raising the total diagnosed cases to 246,861, Koca said.

Meanwhile, 22 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 5,934, he noted.

Turkish health professionals conducted 70,192 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 5,592,072, he said.

A total of 923 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 228,980 in Turkey since the outbreak, Koca added.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients is 7.8 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 656, he stated.

Turkey reported the first COVID-19 case on March 11.

Turkey and China have supported each other in the fight against COVID-19.

Chinese doctors and medical experts held video conferences with Turkish counterparts to share China's experience in treating coronavirus patients, protecting medical workers, and controlling the spread of the virus.