ISTANBUL
Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic and other news in Turkey and around the world.
Coronavirus and other developments in Turkey
More than 35.15 million people have received their first doses while over 15.25 million have been fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said.
It also confirmed 5,288 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 462 symptomatic patients.
Turkey's overall case tally is now over 5.43 million, while the nationwide death toll has reached 49,774 with 42 new fatalities.
A top Turkish health advisor said the third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which began to be administered in Turkey as of Thursday for those 50 or above along with medical staff, is needed to re-stimulate the antibody response within the body.
Austria removed a number of countries, including Turkey, from its red list of countries with travel restrictions imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, announcing a new action plan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to continue combating violence against women.
Protesting a new Greek ruling, Turkey urged Athens to comply with European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decisions upholding the freedoms of the local Turkish minority.
COVID-19 updates worldwide
Nearly 3.1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered so far worldwide, according to figures compiled by Our World in Data, a tracking website affiliated with Oxford University.
The EU digital COVID certificate system officially kicked off.
The document is meant to facilitate travel within the bloc by waiving further quarantine or test requirements for those who hold the pass.
The COVAX facility urged all government authorities to recognize as fully vaccinated all people receiving COVID-19 doses deemed safe and effective by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Foreign tourists coming to France from next week will have to pay for PCR and antigen tests to declare they are not infected with COVID-19, said a government spokesperson.
Kuwait announced the resumption of flights with 12 countries after a year-long suspension because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Coronavirus cases in Africa are rising rapidly, as the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus is becoming more widespread.
South Africa reported 21,584 new COVID-19 infections, the highest daily figure in six months, health authorities said, bringing the overall caseload to over 1.9 million.
Russia saw a record number of daily coronavirus fatalities for the third day in a row, with 672 lives lost over the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 135,886.
Bangladesh started administering doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with expatriate workers first in line.
The dip in COVID-19 fatalities seen in India over the past few days ended as the daily death count topped 1,000 once again.
Other global developments
Search and rescue operations at a partially collapsed condominium building have been halted because of concerns that the remainder of the building could fall, officials said Thursday.
Caving in to mounting pressure from the opposition over deadly terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore sacked the ministers of defense and security, local media reported.
