DOHA — Qatar detected 608 new coronavirus cases and four COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours, raising the total number of active cases in the country to 5,308 and the virus-related death toll 138, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, 1,204 people recovered from the coronavirus,which brings the total number of recoveries in Qatar to 96,107.

Eight people were admitted into the ICU on Wednesday. The total number of people in ICU facilities is 154.

The ministry has so far conducted 396,199 COVID-19 tests, since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, with 5,202 additional tests conducted over the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha spoke by phone with her Qatari counterpart and discussed joint efforts for economic cooperation and coronavirus responses, her office said.

In the phone conversation with Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, deputy prime minister cum foreign minister, Kang hailed the 23.6 trillion won ($19.2 billion) deal inked last month between Qatar’s state oil company and South Korean shipbuilders on the reservation of construction capacity for liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels, the foreign ministry in Seoul said in a press release. — Agencies