Turkey has recorded 56 more deaths and 1,581 new coronavirus patients in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said Wednesday.

In a statement, the ministry said that 1,411 patients were receiving care in the intensive care unit.

It noted that 116,608 tests had been carried out, while 1,355 patients have recovered in the past day.

About 288,954 people have recovered from COVID-19 in the country, while 8,609 people lost their lives as a result of the deadly virus.

After going through the worst of the outbreak and managing to lower the number of daily cases below 1,000, Turkey has been witnessing a resurgence in new infections.

In an effort to halt the steadily rising infection rates, the government introduced several measures. It made wearing masks outside mandatory across all provinces and began running mass transit at a reduced capacity.

The Education Ministry initially announced that schools would reopen on Aug. 31. However, a resurgence in infections postponed the reopening to Sept. 21 on a reduced scale.