Turkey reports over 8,600 more coronavirus cases

Turkey reported 8,636 new coronavirus cases, including 659 symptomatic patients, and 98 more fatalities on Tuesday.

The overall case count has now passed 2.54 million, with the death toll at 26,998, according to the Health Ministry.

Some 8,109 more patients won the battle against the virus, taking the total number of recoveries past 2.43 million.

The number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition stands at 1,310, latest figures showed.

Nearly 30.9 million tests have been conducted in Turkey to date, including 137,712 more over the past day.

Turkey kicked off a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, with healthcare workers the first to be inoculated.

Top officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, were also immunized to encourage public confidence in the vaccine.

Since last December, Turkey has been implementing a curfew on weeknights and a full weekend curfew to curb the spread of the virus.

The pandemic has claimed more than 2.3 million lives in 192 countries and regions since December 2019.

Over 106.5 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now above 59.5 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

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