UPDATE - Over 29.2M vaccine shots administered in Turkey

UPDATES WITH WEEKLY PROVINCIAL STATISTICS, REVISES HEADLINE, DECK

By Seda Sevencan, Dilan Pamuk and Busra Nur Cakmak

ISTANBUL/ANKARA (AA) - Turkey has so far administered over 29.24 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched a mass inoculation drive in mid-January, according to official figures released on Tuesday.

More than 16.6 million people have received their first doses, while over 12.5 million have been fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said.

The ministry also confirmed 7,112 new coronavirus cases, including 602 symptomatic patients, in the last 24 hours. The number of new cases on Monday was 6,493.

Turkey's overall case tally is now over 5.25 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 47,656 with 129 new fatalities.

As many as 9,457 more patients won the battle against the virus, raising the total number of recoveries past 5.12 million.

Over 54.3 million coronavirus tests have been conducted to date.

The latest figures put the tally of COVID-19 patients in critical condition at 1,241, down by 98 from Monday's count.

- Local, regional figures

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca also released the latest weekly infection rates across the country’s various regions.

Sharing the data for May 22-28 on Twitter, Koca said the case numbers are consistently falling.

“The biggest drops in the number of cases per 100,000 people were seen in Erzurum, Tunceli, Kastamonu, Samsun and Kocaeli. The positive course continues,” Koca said on Twitter.

The number of cases per 100,000 people was 89 in the metropolis of Istanbul – home to nearly one-fifth of Turkey’s population – and also 115 in the capital Ankara and 47 in Izmir on the Aegean.

The provinces of Hatay, Osmaniye and Adana had the lowest COVID-19 infections per 100,000 people.

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

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 3.55 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 170.8 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University.