Turkey reports over 7,800 new coronavirus infections

By Seda Sevencan and Handan Kazanci

ANKARA / ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey on Saturday reported 7,857 new coronavirus cases, including 635 symptomatic patients, according to the Health Ministry.

The country's case count passed 2.63 million, while the nationwide death toll reached 27,983, with 80 fatalities over the past day.

As many as 7,210 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus for more than 2.51 million recoveries thus far.

Some 32.21 million coronavirus tests have been done in Turkey to date, with 118,911 since Friday.

The latest figures showed that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition stands at 1,180.

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

Underlining that they are working carefully on normalization steps, Koca said on Twitter that the process will start with provincial public health councils dealing with four risk levels in line with Health Ministry criteria.

Since last December, Turkey has been implementing curfew on weeknights and a full weekend curfew to curb the spread of the virus.

On Jan. 14, Turkey began a mass vaccination campaign, starting with healthcare workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence in the vaccines.

The pandemic has claimed more than 2.45 million lives in 192 countries and regions since December 2019.

Over 110.83 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now more than 62.47 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

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