Dilan Pamuk and Handan Kazanci
March 19, 2021•Update: March 20, 2021
ANKARA/ISTANBUL
Turkey on Friday reported more than 21,000 new coronavirus cases, according to Health Ministry data.
A total of 21,030 cases, including 934 symptomatic patients, were confirmed across the country, the data showed.
Turkey's overall case tally is over 2.97 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 29,864 with 87 fatalities over the past day.
As many as 18,119 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 2.78 million.
More than 35.97 million coronavirus tests have been done in Turkey to date, with 187,859 done since Thursday.
The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition rose to 1,547.
Since Turkey began a mass COVID-vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, it has administered over 13.01 million coronavirus vaccine jabs, according to official figures.
Over 8 million people to date have received their first doses of a vaccine against coronavirus, while second doses were given to more than 5 million.
On March 1, Turkey started easing weekend curfews while continuing weeknight curfews to stem the virus’s spread. The country allows more in-person education and restaurant dining, based on local risk assessment.
Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 2.69 million lives in 192 countries and regions.
Over 121.95 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now numbering over 69 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.
