Turkey vaccinated over one-third of population, says health minister

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkey has vaccinated more than one-third of its over 80 million population to date, the Turkish health minister announced on Friday.

“30M vaccine shots have been administered (in Turkey) as of today,” Fahrettin Koca wrote on Twitter, adding that one-third of the country's population had been vaccinated.

Koca noted that Turkey has agreements for vaccine shots for more than three times of its population.

He also shared Health Ministry data on the number of people who received the first and second doses of vaccines. More than 17 million people have received their first doses, while over 12.8 million have been fully vaccinated.

Turkey on Thursday confirmed 6,602 new coronavirus cases, including 563 symptomatic patients, across the country in the last 24 hours. The number of new cases on Wednesday was 7,181.

Turkey's overall case tally is now over 5.27 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 47,882 with 114 new fatalities.

Turkey is imposing a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m on weekdays and Saturdays, and a full lockdown on Sundays till July.