Turkey’s downward trend in coronavirus numbers continued on Wednesday as the country reported just over 13,000 new cases, according to Health Ministry data.
A total of 13,029 cases, including 1,496 symptomatic patients, were confirmed across the country, down from 14,497 on Tuesday, the data showed.
Turkey’s overall case tally is over 5.07 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 43,821, with 232 fatalities over the past day.
As many as 35,167 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 4.8 million.
More than 50.05 million coronavirus tests have been done in Turkey to date, with 228,192 done since Tuesday.
The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition stands at 2,827.
Turkey has administered over 25.36 million coronavirus jabs since launching a mass vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, according to official figures.
Over 14.7 million people have received their first doses, while over 10.6 million have gotten second doses.
Eased restrictions expected after holiday
Turkey will gradually ease lockdown restrictions after the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday as coronavirus cases and fatalities continue to fall nationwide, the country’s president said Wednesday.
“Hopefully, by bringing the pandemic under control, we will take normalization steps in a controlled manner after the Eid,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a video message for the holiday, which begins Thursday.
He added: “Good days are ahead even though we are having a bitter holiday due to the problems caused by the pandemic.”
He told how during the last Eid, in 2020, Turkey was hoping to overcome COVID-19 before a new wave of the virus struck worldwide.
He said restrictions were a necessity with rising numbers of cases and deaths, so the country went under full lockdown until the end of the Eid holiday next Monday.
