Turkey reports over 6,000 more COVID-19 patients

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkey registered 6,017 more coronavirus patients over the past 24 hours, according to data by the Health Ministry on Sunday.

The new cases raised the overall count to 446,822.

As many as 3,812 patients also recovered over the past day, bringing the tally to 374,637, while the death toll rose by 139 to reach 12,358.

More than 155,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted across the country, taking the total to over 17 million.

The number of patients in critical condition now stands at 4,217.

In a tweet, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said "we must strictly follow the rules" so that new restrictions could yield positive results.

Starting this week, Turkey has imposed a partial weekend curfew, from 8 p.m. to 10 a.m. local time.

The pandemic has claimed more than 1.38 million lives in 191 countries and regions since last December, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

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