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Turkey Records Highest New Virus Death Toll for 4th Consecutive Day

Police officers patrol Istiklal street, the main shopping street in Istanbul, minutes into the lockdown, part of the new measures to try curb the spread of the coronavirus, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. AP
Police officers patrol Istiklal street, the main shopping street in Istanbul, minutes into the lockdown, part of the new measures to try curb the spread of the coronavirus, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. AP
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Turkey Records Highest New Virus Death Toll for 4th Consecutive Day

Police officers patrol Istiklal street, the main shopping street in Istanbul, minutes into the lockdown, part of the new measures to try curb the spread of the coronavirus, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. AP
Police officers patrol Istiklal street, the main shopping street in Istanbul, minutes into the lockdown, part of the new measures to try curb the spread of the coronavirus, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. AP

Turkey's daily number of coronavirus deaths hit a record high for a fourth consecutive day with 174 in the past 24 hours, data from the Health Ministry showed on Thursday, and it also reported the highest number of new daily infections yet.

Data showed that Turkey recorded 29,132 COVID-19 cases, including asymptomatic ones, on Thursday. From July until Wednesday, Ankara had only reported symptomatic cases, of which there were 6,876 on Thursday, raising the total number to 474,606.

The total number of deaths stood at 13,014.

Thursday's new case tally was also the highest daily number reported since the beginning of the pandemic but historical data and the cumulative number of all cases is still not available.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a Turkish-developed vaccine against COVID-19 could be ready for use by April.

The vaccine, ERUCOV-VAC, is being developed by Erciyes University, in the central Turkish province of Kayseri, and is currently undergoing phase 1 of testing.

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Russia, Ukraine Complete Second Round of Prisoner Exchange

Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) react following a prisoner swap at an undisclosed location, Ukraine, 10 June 2025. (EPA)
Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) react following a prisoner swap at an undisclosed location, Ukraine, 10 June 2025. (EPA)
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Russia, Ukraine Complete Second Round of Prisoner Exchange

Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) react following a prisoner swap at an undisclosed location, Ukraine, 10 June 2025. (EPA)
Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) react following a prisoner swap at an undisclosed location, Ukraine, 10 June 2025. (EPA)

Russia and Ukraine said Tuesday they had exchanged captured soldiers, the second stage of an agreement struck at peace talks last week for each side to free more than 1,000 prisoners.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday's exchange saw "the return of our injured and severely wounded warriors from Russian captivity."

Neither side said how many soldiers had been freed in the swap -- the second in as many days following another exchange on Monday.

The two sides had agreed in Istanbul last week to release all wounded soldiers and all under the age of 25.

Russia's defense ministry said: "In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached on June 2 in Istanbul, the second group of Russian servicemen was returned."

Zelensky said further exchanges would follow.

"The exchanges are to continue. We are doing everything we can to find and return every single person who is in captivity."

The agreement had appeared in jeopardy over the weekend, with both sides trading accusations of attempting to thwart the exchange.

Russia says Ukraine has still not agreed to collect the bodies of killed soldiers, after Moscow said more than 1,200 corpses were waiting in refrigerated trucks near the border.

Russia said it had agreed to hand over the remains of 6,000 killed Ukrainian soldiers, while Kyiv said it would be an "exchange".

Moscow and Kyiv have carried out dozens of prisoner exchanges since Russia invaded in 2022, triggering Europe's largest conflict since World War II.