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CAIRO, May 15-- Turkey, the hardest-hit country by the coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East, has reported more than 146,000 confirmed cases, while the tally in Iran surpassed 116,000. Turkey on Friday confirmed 1,708 new COVID-19 cases and 55 more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 146,457 and the death toll to 4,055. A Turkish company recently launched the first domestic production of a drug to be used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The production has been progressing at the facility of the pharmaceutical company in the Cerkezkoy district of Tekirdag Province, some 150 km from Istanbul, under the surveillance of about 100 scientists. Iran on Friday reported 2,102 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 116,635. The Islamic republic also registered 48 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 6,902, Kianush Jahanpur, head of Public Relations and Information Center of Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said in his daily update briefing. Tourist sites in Iran's central province of Isfahan have been allowed to reopen as restrictive measures imposed to contain the COVID-19 spread are relaxed in the country. Saudi Arabia registered on Friday 2,307 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number in the kingdom to 49,176. The Saudi health ministry said on Twitter that 2,818 more have recovered from the virus, bringing the tally of recoveries to 21,869. | 
