Turkey's daily COVID-19 tally tops 30,000

ISTANBUL

Turkey on Saturday reported over 30,000 new coronavirus cases, pushing its overall tally above 3.17 million.

As many as 30,021 infections, including 1,281 symptomatic patients, were confirmed in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

With 151 more fatalities, the nationwide COVID-19 death toll has reached 30,923.

As many as 18,892 more patients won the battle against the disease, taking the number of recoveries past 2.9 million.

More than 37.65 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in Turkey to date, with 223,214 more done since Friday.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition stands at 1,886.

In a positive development, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Turkey will start vaccinating people aged above 60 years and some risk groups.

"[ ….] Citizens over the age of 60 will be able to get vaccination by appointment with their spouses. In addition, some risk groups were included in the program," Koca said on Twitter.

"Patients with morbid obesity, cancer with a malignant tumor, and those who receive dialysis, as well as people with Down's syndrome and those receiving immunosuppressive treatment were identified in the system to for priority vaccine jabs," Koca said.

"We want to protect our most vulnerable citizens as soon as possible," he added.

Turkey began a mass COVID-19 vaccination drive in early January and has administered over 14.65 million jabs to date, according to official figures.

Over 8.21 million people have received their first doses, while over 6.4 million have completed a two-dose course.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 2.77 million lives in 192 countries and regions.

Over 126.29 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 71.57 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.