Turkey reports over 14,000 new COVID-19 infections

Turkey on Thursday reported 14,380 more infections and 239 new fatalities from the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours.

According to Health Ministry data, the new cases include 2,219 symptomatic patients. The tally of infections exceeded 2.21 million, while the death toll climbed to 20,881.

As many as 22,021 more people recovered over the past day, taking the total to over 2.1 million.

A total of 178,217 COVID-19 tests were conducted across the country over the past day, pushing the overall count to over 24.5 million.

The number of patients in critical condition dropped to 3,918, latest figures showed.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Twitter said: "We expect the decrease in the number of our losses to be permanent and continuous."

Noting that the number of patients in critical condition dropped below 4,000, Koca said: "We will be successful by acting in a planned and cautious manner while fully complying with the restrictions."

Turkey will start a nationwide curfew spanning the traditional New Year's holiday starting Thursday until early Jan. 4 as part of measures to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The curfew will begin on Thursday at 9 p.m. (1800GMT) and end at 5 a.m. local time (0200GMT) on Monday.

The country has been implementing curfew on weeknights and full weekend curfews since Dec. 5 to stem the spread of the virus.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 1.80 million lives in 191 countries and regions since it originated in China last December.

Over 82.89 million cases have been reported worldwide, with more than 46.89 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

The US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of cases.