Turkey reports 18,052 new COVID-19 cases, 5,016,141 in total

A nurse prepares a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Ankara, Turkey, on May 8, 2021. Turkey on Saturday confirmed 18,052 new COVID-19 cases, including 2,178 symptomatic patients, raising the total infections in the country to 5,016,141, according to its health ministry. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

ANKARA, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Saturday confirmed 18,052 new COVID-19 cases, including 2,178 symptomatic patients, raising the total infections in the country to 5,016,141, according to its health ministry.

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 281 to 42,746, while the total recoveries climbed to 4,691,224 after 28,896 more recovered in the last 24 hours.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients stands at 3.2 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 3,175 in the country, said the ministry.

A total of 228,873 tests were conducted over the past day, taking the overall number of tests in Turkey to 49,192,673.

Turkey started mass COVID-19 vaccination on Jan. 14 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine. More than 14,560,000 people have been vaccinated so far.

Turkey reported its first COVID-19 case on March 11, 2020.