Turkey: Number of people vaccinated for COVID tops 2M

By Havva Kara Aydin

ANKARA (AA) - The number of people in Turkey who have received their first dose of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus crossed the 2 million mark as of Monday, according to official figures.

In Turkey's mass vaccination campaign, under which health professionals are administering jabs of CoronaVac purchased from Chinese company SinoVac, immunization efforts are running smoothly.

According to data from the Turkish Health Ministry, over 2 million people to date in the country have been vaccinated.

Turkey began its mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, starting with healthcare workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence in the vaccines, then moving on to older individuals.

Since last month Turkey has also been implementing curfew on nights and weekends to curb the spread of the virus.

Since it emerged in December 2019, the pandemic has claimed more than 2.22 million lives in 192 countries and regions, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.

More than 102 million cases and over 57 million recoveries have been reported worldwide.