Over 49.73M coronavirus vaccine shots given in Turkey to date

By Dilara Hamit, Ali Murat Alhas and Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey has administered over 49.73 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January, according to official figures released on Wednesday.

More than 34.57 million people have received their first doses, while over 15.08 million have been fully vaccinated, showed the Health Ministry count.

It also confirmed 5,496 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 522 symptomatic patients.

Turkey's overall case tally is now over 5.42 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 49,732, with 45 new fatalities.

As many as 7,191 more patients have won the battle against the virus, bringing the number of recoveries past 5.2 million.

Over 60.7 million coronavirus tests have been done to date.

The latest figures put the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition at 727.

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

Seeking to limit the 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 3.94 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with some 181.96 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.​​​​​​​