Over 16M coronavirus vaccine doses administered in Turkey

ISTANBUL

Turkey has so far administered more than 16.6 million coronavirus vaccine jabs across the country, the nation's health minister announced on Saturday.

"Among the countries which have yet to produce their own vaccine, Turkey stands as one of the states that conducts the most jabs," Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

"We rank sixth among countries with the highest number of vaccines," he said. "The countries that give more vaccines than us are the US, China, India, the UK, and Brazil."

According to the Health Ministry data, since Turkey began a mass COVID-vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, more than 9.5 million people to date have received their first doses, while second doses have been given to over 7.13 million.

In the face of rising case and fatality numbers, Turkey announced the return of weekend curfews in high-risk areas, as well as other restrictions, in addition to special measures for the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 2.84 million lives in 192 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University. Over 130.5 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now nearing 74 million.