Over 51.85M coronavirus vaccine shots given in Turkey to date

By Gozde Bayar, Merve Gul Aydogan Aglarci, and Busra Nur Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey has administered over 51.85 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched a mass vaccination campaign in January, according to official figures released on Friday.

More than 35.58 million people have received their first doses, while over 15.45 million have been fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said.

It also confirmed 4,891 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 461 symptomatic patients.

Turkey's overall case tally is now over 5.43 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 49,829 with 55 new fatalities.

As many as 5,352 more patients have won the battle against the virus, bringing the number of recoveries past 5.3 million.

Over 61.23 million coronavirus tests have been done to date.

The latest figures put the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition at 697.

Amid a nationwide fall in virus cases and an expedited inoculation drive, Turkey has entered a new normalization phase, lifting almost all virus-related restrictions.

But seeking to limit the spread of the virus's Delta variant, it has suspended flights from Bangladesh, Brazil, South Africa, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

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

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 3.95 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 182.8 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.