Turkey's health minister meets with Russian ambassador

By Havva Kara Aydin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey and Russia discussed their cooperation in the area of health in light of the coronavirus pandemic, a Turkish minister said Tuesday.

“After a meeting with Russia’s ambassador to Turkey Aleksey Yerhov, we evaluated our cooperation with them in the field of health, especially the Sputnik V vaccine,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

He thanked Yerhov for Russia’s receptiveness to bilateral cooperation.

He also met with China’s ambassador to Turkey Liu Shaobin at the ministry.

He thanked the ambassador for China’s support and friendly role in Turkey’s vaccination program.

“We will continue to work together for the common good of humanity,” he added.

Turkey reported over 6,800 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, according to Health Ministry data.

Turkey's overall case count is over 2.39 million, while the nationwide death toll reached 24,328.

Last Thursday, Turkey kicked off a mass COVID vaccination campaign, starting with healthcare workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence in the vaccines.

So far, over 900,000 health care workers in the country have received their first doses of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine, according to the Health Ministry.