Virus ebbs as Turkey reports just over 18,000 daily cases

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) – The downward trend in the number of daily cases in Turkey continued on Saturday as the country reported just over 18,000 new coronavirus cases, according to Health Ministry data.

A total of 18,052 cases, including 2,178 symptomatic patients, were confirmed across the country, the data showed.

Turkey's overall case tally is over 5.02 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 42,746, with 281 fatalities over the past day.

As many as 28,896 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 4.69 million.

More than 49.19 million coronavirus tests have been done in Turkey to date, with 228,873 conducted since Friday.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition stands at 3,175.

Turkey has so far administered over 24.88 million coronavirus vaccine jabs since a nationwide immunization campaign began on Jan. 14.

More than 14.56 million people have received their first doses, while over 10.32 million people have been fully vaccinated.

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

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 3.3 million lives in 192 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Over 157 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 93.1 million.