Turkey reports over 26,000 new coronavirus cases

By Ahmet Gencturk and Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Wednesday reported over 26,000 new coronavirus cases, according to Health Ministry data.

A total of 26,476 cases, including 2,414 symptomatic patients, were confirmed across the country, the data showed.

Turkey's overall case tally is over 4.95 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 41,883, with 356 fatalities over the past day.

As many as 35,464 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 4.58 million.

More than 48.45 million coronavirus tests have been done in Turkey to date, with 229,491 conducted since Tuesday.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition dropped to 3,418.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in an earlier statement that the country's ongoing strict COVID-19 measures and lockdown bore fruit and the count of cases has declined considerably in the past two days.

The number of fatalities and severely ill patients were also expected to drop in the coming days, Koca added.

Turkey has so far administered over 24.25 million coronavirus vaccine jabs since a nationwide immunization campaign began in mid-January.

More than 14.31 million people have received their first dose, while over 9.94 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 3.23 million lives in 192 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Over 154.53 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 91 million.