Turkey reports 29K+ new COVID-19 cases

By Burak Bir and Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey registered 29,132 more coronavirus infections, including 6,876 symptomatic cases, over the past 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry data released Thursday.

The new symptomatic cases raised the overall count to 474,606.

A total of 3,291 patients also recovered over the past day, bringing the tally to 388,771, while the death toll rose by 174 to reach 13,014.

More than 168,300 additional COVID-19 tests were conducted across the country, bringing the total to over 17.9 million.

The number of patients in critical condition now stands at 4,711.

Urging the public to follow COVID-19 measures, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter that the country's active cases are rising.

The pandemic has claimed more than 1.4 million lives in 191 countries and regions since last December, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.

While the US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of the number of cases, Europe is in the grip of a devastating second wave of infections.