UPDATE - Turkey surpasses 103.5M COVID-19 vaccines administered

REVISIES HEADLINE, ADDS REMARKS FROM HEALTH MINISTER

By Burak Dag, Ahmet Gencturk and Rabia Iclal Turan

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey has administered more than 103.52 million coronavirus vaccine shots since the country launched a mass immunization campaign in January, according to official figures released Wednesday.

Over 52.1 million people have taken their first doses, while more than 41.1 million are fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said.

The data showed that 84.02% of the country's adult population has received at least one dose of a two-shot vaccine.

Turkey has also administered third booster shots to over 9.6 million people.

Separately, the ministry reported over 28,000 new coronavirus cases, while 248 more people lost their fight against the disease in the last 24 hours.

Some 341,000 tests for the virus were carried out over the past day.

Last week, schools restarted in Turkey amid coronavirus measures. On Thursday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that random PCR tests would be given at pilot schools starting this week as part of the measures.

Explaining the practice in detail on Wednesday following a virtual meeting of the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, Koca said that "no action will be taken without the consent of students' parents during the tests that will be carried out for [medical] screening."

He reiterated that keeping schools open for in-class learning is their top priority.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 4.65 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with more than 226.2 million cases reported worldwide, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.