Turkey’s COVID-19 death toll rose by 23 on Monday as 827 new cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced.

In the past 24 hours, 974 more patients recovered from COVID-19, while the total number of recovered patients approached 130,000, Koca said on Twitter.

"Our new number of cases is at the predicted level. The need for respiratory support is decreasing," he said.

The total number of tests performed in the country has exceeded 2 million, with 31,525 tests carried out in the past 24 hours.

Koca urged citizens to continue to practice proper hand hygiene, wear masks and maintain social distance.

"Better measures, better results," he wrote.

On Monday, a new life began for millions, especially for people in big cities who were subject to restrictions hampering daily life, as authorities lifted more measures. This "new normal," as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described, will determine the course of the pandemic that killed more than 4,500 people in the country.

Flights and intercity travel resumed, while restaurants, cafes, gyms, parks, beaches, museums, daycare centers and libraries were allowed to open their doors after a nearly two-month closure.

The decreasing daily death toll, increasing recoveries and fewer new cases paved the way for lifting restrictions. This, in turn, was thanks to more people adhering to strict rules like wearing masks and adopting social distancing, according to health authorities.