ANKARA, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Tuesday reported Turkey's first death from COVID-19, or novel coronavirus.

File photo: VCG

"In our struggle, today I lost one patient," the minister told reporters.

He said the patient was an 89-year-old male who was infected with COVID-19 from his employee.

Turkey detected 51 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 98.