The daily number of deaths in Turkey due to the coronavirus dipped to 202 in the last 24 hours, Health Ministry data showed Saturday, bringing the total death toll to 21,295 on the second day of a four-day New Year lockdown, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.
The number of new COVID-19 cases fell to 11,180 over the same period from 12,203 a day earlier, bringing Turkey's total cases to 2,232,035 since the outbreak struck early last year.
The data showed that more than 149,000 COVID-19 tests were carried out in the past day.
In the meantime, 11,672 patients were declared to have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,126,432.
"The decline in the number of critical patients continues. Our biggest expectation is that our losses will decrease further. We must persistently follow the measures until we get a successful result from the vaccination program. We are strong if we act together,” said Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Twitter.
After witnessing daily COVID-19 cases reach as high as 30,000, the government reintroduced a slew of restrictions last month, including the closure of schools, weekday curfews and weekend lockdowns.
Since then, Turkey's active cases have been dropping steadily, with the daily infection rates hovering around 15,000 for the past few days.
The government also announced a special four-day curfew to cover the New Year's weekend that will be implemented from 9 p.m. Thursday until 5 a.m. Monday to stop people from gathering for celebrations.