Ahmet Gencturk, Havva Kara Aydin, and Sena Guler
17 March 2021•Update: 18 March 2021
ANKARA
Turkey on Wednesday reported more than 18,900 new coronavirus cases, according to Health Ministry data.
A total of 18,912 cases, including 869 symptomatic patients, were confirmed across the country, the data showed.
Turkey's overall case tally is over 2.93 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 29,696, with 73 fatalities over the past day.
As many as 17,161 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 2.75 million.
More than 35.6 million coronavirus tests have been done in Turkey to date, with 167,526 done since Tuesday.
The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition rose to 1,484.
On Jan.14, Turkey began a mass COVID-vaccination campaign, starting with healthcare workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence in the vaccines.
According to the Health Ministry's official figures, Turkey has so far administered over 12.35 million coronavirus vaccine jabs across the country.
Over 7.98 million people to date have received their first doses of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, while second vaccine doses were given to nearly 4.36 million.
On March 1, Turkey started easing weekend curfews while continuing weeknight curfews to stem the virus spread. The country allows more face-to-face education and restaurant dining, based on local risk assessment.
Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 2.67 million lives in 191 countries and regions.
Over 120.62 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 68.57 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.
