ANKARA, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Two local potential vaccine studies in Turkey for the novel coronavirus have finalized their animal trial phase, Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank said on Sunday.

"We made our applications to our Ministry of Health, and we want to start human trials after the necessary evaluation and certification of the facilities for the pilot production of these vaccines," the minister told semi-official Anadolu Agency.

Turkey's daily COVID-19 cases increased by 1,467 on Sunday, raising the total diagnosed patients to 314,433, the Turkish Health Ministry announced.

Meanwhile, 68 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 7,997, according to the data shared by the ministry.

A total of 1,116 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 275,630 in Turkey since the outbreak.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients is 6.5 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 1,583.

Turkish health professionals conducted 101,119 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 10,037,700.

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.