Turkey administers over 98.86M vaccine jabs so far

By Burak Dag, Handan Kazanci and Rabia Iclal Turan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey has administered over 98.86 million coronavirus vaccine jabs since the country launched an immunization campaign in January, indicated official figures released on Tuesday.

Over 50.34 million people have gotten their first vaccine dose, while more than 38.99 million are fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said.

The data showed that 81.08% of the country's adult population has received at least one dose of a two-shot vaccine.

Turkey has also given third booster shots to over 9.12 million people.

The ministry also reported 23,638 new coronavirus cases, while as many as 274 more people died of the disease in the past 24 hours.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced the first Mu variant of COVID-19 cases seen in Turkey earlier in the day.

First identified in Colombia this January, the Mu strain has been found in 39 countries so far and was recently classified as a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organization.

The variant accounted for less than 0.1% of infections worldwide, but its prevalence in Colombia and Ecuador has been rising and stood at 39% and 13%, respectively, by the end of August, according to the WHO.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 4.58 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 221.49 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.