Turkey reports over 22,000 new coronavirus cases

By Faruk Zorlu and Dilara Hamit

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey reported over 22,300 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the Health Ministry said.

A total of 22,388 infections, including 2,401 symptomatic patients, were confirmed in the last 24 hours.

Turkey's overall COVID-19 tally is now over 4.97 million, while the nationwide death toll rose by 304 over the past day to reach 42,187

As many as 37,298 more patients won the battle against the virus, taking the total number of recoveries past 4.62 million.

More than 48.71 million coronavirus tests have been conducted to date, with 253,382 done since Wednesday.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition stands at 3,378.

Turkey has so far administered over 24.5 million coronavirus vaccine jabs since a nationwide immunization campaign began on Jan. 14. More than 14.4 million people have received their first dose, while over 10 million people have been fully vaccinated.

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

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 3.24 million lives in 192 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Over 155.37 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 91.7 million.