Turkey reports 8,424 new coronavirus cases

By Ahmet Gencturk and Merver Aglarci

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Sunday reported 8,424 new coronavirus cases, including 610 symptomatic patients.

The country's overall caseload thus crossed 2.7 million, including 28,569 related deaths, according to the Health Ministry.

While 66 died, as many as 6,511 patients won the battle against the disease, bringing the number of recoveries to over 2.57 million.

More than 33.175 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in Turkey to date, with 109,639 in the last 24 hours.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition dropped to 1,191.

Turkey began a mass COVID-vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, starting with healthcare workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence.

According to ministry figures, the country has so far administered nearly 8.58 million jabs nationwide. Over 6.88 million people have received their first doses, while second doses have been given to nearly 1.7 million.

Turkey has been imposing weekend and nighttime curfews to curb the spread of the disease since November. Last week, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said restrictions will be eased from March 1.

Since December 2019, when the first cases were detected in Wuhan, China, the pandemic has claimed over 2.527 million lives in 191 countries and regions.

Over 113.8 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 64.32 million, according to figures by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk and Merve Aglarci