Turkey reports over 9,500 new COVID-19 infections

The country's case tally passed 2.67 million, while the nationwide death toll reached 28,358, with 73 fatalities over the past day.

As many as 6,210 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 2.54 million.

More than 32.81 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in Turkey to date, with 126,527 since Wednesday.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition stands at 1,192.

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.

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

Last week, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced that Turkey will start to gradually normalize from coronavirus restrictions as of March 1.

The pandemic has claimed some 2.5 million lives in 192 countries and regions since it originated in China in December 2019.

Over 112.71 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now nearing 63.6 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

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