Turkey reports over 9,200 virus cases, 74 deaths in 24 hours
A couple wearing protective masks travel on a ferry over the Bosphorus, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Istanbul, Turkey, Feb. 23, 2021. (Reuters Photo)


Turkey on Friday reported 9,205 more coronavirus cases, including 649 symptomatic patients, according to the Health Ministry.

The country's case tally passed 2.68 million, while the nationwide death toll reached 28,432, with 74 fatalities over the past day.

As many as 10,282 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 2.55 million.

More than 32.93 million coronavirus tests have been done in Turkey to date, including 128,387 since Thursday.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition stands at 1,195.

Turkey began a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Jan. 14 and has administered over 7.7 million vaccine doses as of Wednesday.

After receiving the first doses of Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine, Turkey has inoculated more than 6.5 million people so far.

Since last December, Turkey has had curfews on weeknights and partial lockdowns on weekends to curb the virus’s spread.

Last week, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced that Turkey will start to gradually normalize from coronavirus restrictions as of March 1.

Since it originated in China in December 2019, the pandemic has claimed some 2.5 million lives in 192 countries and regions.

Over 113.16 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now nearing 63.9 million, according to figures compiled by the U.S.' Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S., India and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of cases.