Turkey: Over 4.4 million people recovered from COVID-19

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's coronavirus recovery total has surpassed 4.4 million, authorities said on Friday.

A total of 28,817 cases, including 2,615 symptomatic patients, were confirmed across the country in the past 24 hours, according to the latest Health Ministry data.

Turkey's overall COVID-19 tally is now nearly 4.85 million, while the nationwide death toll rose by 373 over the past day to reach 40,504.

As many as 81,302 more patients won the battle against the virus, the data showed.

More than 47.5 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in Turkey to date, with 242,194 more done since Friday.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition stands at 3,525.

Turkey has so far administered over 22.9 million coronavirus vaccine jabs since a nationwide immunization campaign began on Jan. 14.

More than 13.77 million people have received their first doses of a vaccine, while over 9.16 million people have completed a two-dose vaccine course, according to the Health Ministry's data.

As a public health measure to fight the virus, Turkey started a complete lockdown starting Thursday evening and lasting until May 17.

The lockdown will cover the remainder of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as well as three days of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 3.18 million lives in 192 countries and regions.

Nearly 151.5 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 88.3 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.