Turkey reports over 20,000 daily coronavirus cases

By Burak Dag and Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA (AA) – Downward trend in the number of daily cases in Turkey has continued on Friday as the country reported over 20,000 new coronavirus cases, according to Health Ministry data.

A total of 20,107 cases, including 2,210 symptomatic patients, were confirmed across the country, the data showed.

Turkey's overall case tally is over 4.99 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 42,465, with 278 fatalities over the past day.

As many as 35,529 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 4.66 million.

More than 48.9 million coronavirus tests have been done in Turkey to date, with 251,194 conducted since Thursday.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition dropped to 3,260.

Turkey has so far administered over 24.7 million coronavirus vaccine jabs since a nationwide immunization campaign began on Jan. 14.

More than 14.5 million people have received their first doses, while over 10 million people have been fully vaccinated.

To stem the spread of the virus, Turkey on last week began a nationwide lockdown set to last until May 17.

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 3.25 million lives in 192 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Over 156.2 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 92.4 million.