Anadolu Agency's Morning Briefing

ANKARA

Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic and other news in Turkey and around the world.

Coronavirus and other developments in Turkey

Turkey confirmed 1,629 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the tally to 332,382.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 1,402 more patients recovered from the virus, pushing that number to 291,754.

Koca added that Turkey will register its first human vaccine trial for the virus probably in two weeks.

Turkish security forces arrested a suspect in the northern province of Samsun who allegedly has links to the Al Qaeda terror organization.

Turkish and Italian defense chiefs met in Rome to discuss bilateral and security issues as well as the latest developments concerning Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey issued a Navtex (navigational telex) announcing an extension to the Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa's research activities with "Tanux-1" and "Apollo Moon" vessels.

COVID-19 updates worldwide

As of Saturday, the worldwide tally for novel coronavirus infections had surpassed 36.7 million, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University

Cases and fatalities also continued to rise across Eurasian and Central Asian countries as Ukraine registered its highest daily spike in infections.

Russia saw it highest daily count in cases as the country reported 12,126 new infections and 201 fatalities, bringing its number of cases to 1.2 million and deaths to 22,257.

Britain announced 13,864 additional positive cases across the UK in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to date to 575,679.

Infections skyrocketed in France, with 20,339 more reported, the biggest single-day jump since the end of the lockdown.

Continuing trends seen in the past week, Spain registered nearly 12,800 new infections and 241 more deaths from COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has fully recovered from COVID-19, AC Milan announced.

Other global developments

Following 10-hour talks in Moscow, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to a cease-fire that will begin at noon Saturday.

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) for its efforts to combat hunger, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced.

Kyrgyzstan's president declared a state of emergency in the capital, Bishkek, following election protests that turned violent.

An annual French sporting event, the 2020 Paris-Roubaix bicycle race was canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Pakistan telecommunication authority (PTA) banned video creator application, TikTok, because of immoral content.