Turkey reports over 5,800 COVID-19 recoveries

By Ahmet Gencturk and Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - Daily COVID-19 recoveries in Turkey exceeded the number of cases on Sunday as 5,860 patients regained health in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

The country registered 5,277 new coronavirus infections, including 684 symptomatic patients, in the said period.

Thus, the overall caseload passed 2.42 million, while the death toll rose to 25,073, with 140 more related fatalities. The number of recoveries top 2.3 million.

More than 28.49 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in Turkey to date, with 148,425 done since Saturday.

As many as 1,905 patients are in critical condition.

Turkey began a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, starting with health care workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence in the vaccines.

So far, over 1.2 million people have received their first doses of CoronaVac, the vaccine developed China's Sinovac Biotech.

Turkey has also been imposing nighttime and weekend curfews to curb the spread of the virus since last month.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 2.12 million lives in 192 countries and regions, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 98.86 million cases have been reported worldwide.