Turkey reports more than 80,000 daily COVID-19 cases

Turkey reported 80,454 new coronavirus cases on Saturday.

According to a chart shared by the Health Ministry, 278 people lost their lives and 96,664 others recovered from the disease over the past day.

Also, as many as 462,252 virus tests were done nationwide in the past 24 hours.

To counter the spread of the virus, Turkey has administered nearly 144.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched an immunization drive in January 2021.

More than 57.61 million people have received a first vaccine jab, while almost 52.8 million people have been fully vaccinated. Third booster shots have also been given to over 26.63 million people.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Twitter that the country has begun distributing an antiviral medication with the active ingredient Molnupiravir to patients in the risk group.

Since December 2019, the virus has claimed over 5.87 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with over 422.05 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.