Turkey reports over 20,000 new COVID-19 cases in past 24 hours

Turkey on Sunday reported more than 20,400 new coronavirus cases, according to Health Ministry data.

A total of 20,428 cases, including 965 symptomatic patients, were confirmed across the country, the data showed.

The daily figure was slightly less than the 21,061 infections reported on Saturday, which included 958 symptomatic patients.

Turkey’s overall case tally is now over 3 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 30,061, with 102 more fatalities registered over the past day – seven more than Saturday’s figure.

As many as 17,615 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, down from 18,815 on Saturday, taking the total number of recoveries past 2.82 million.

More than 36.35 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in Turkey to date, with 189,906 done since Saturday.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition rose to 1,568 from 1,538 on Saturday.

Since Turkey began a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, it has administered over 13.06 million vaccine jabs, according to official figures.

Over 8 million people have received their first doses, while more than 5 million people have completed a two-dose course.

On March 1, Turkey started easing weekend curfews while continuing weeknight curfews to stem the virus’s spread. The country allows more in-person education and restaurant dining, based on local risk assessment.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 2.7 million lives in 192 countries and regions.

More than 122.96 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 69.64 million, according to figures compiled by the U.S.' Johns Hopkins University.