Over 49M coronavirus vaccine shots given in Turkey to date

By Merve Berker and Handan Kazanci

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey has administered over 49 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January, according to official figures released on Tuesday.

More than 34.05 million people have received their first doses, while over 15 million have been fully vaccinated, showed the Health Ministry count.

It also confirmed 5,846 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 510 symptomatic patients.

Turkey's overall case tally is now over 5.42 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 49,687, with 53 new fatalities.

As many as 6.536 more patients have won the battle against the virus, bringing the number of recoveries past 5.28 million.

Over 60.55 million coronavirus tests have been done to date.

The latest figures put the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition at 730.

Earlier Tuesday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that one in every four people in Turkey is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as 15 million out of the total population of 84 million have now gotten both vaccine shots.

Urging people to get their shots as soon as possible, he said on Twitter that 25% of Turkey’s population age 18 and over has been vaccinated.

Separately, Koca announced that sports events in Turkey can be held with limited number of fans and under COVID-19 safety measures.

Amid a nationwide fall in virus cases, Turkey is set to end all virus-related restrictions starting Thursday.

Seeking to limit spread of the virus' Delta variant, Turkey has also suspended flights from Bangladesh, Brazil, South Africa, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka starting Thursday until further notice.

Also, passengers from the UK, Iran, Egypt, and Singapore are now required to have a negative COVID-19 test result taken within the last 72 hours.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 3.93 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with some 182 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.