Anadolu Agency's Morning Briefing

ANKARA

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

Turkey has administered more than 117.73 million coronavirus vaccine doses since launching a mass immunization campaign in January, according to official figures.

More than 55.69 million people have received their first dose, while over 49.34 million are fully vaccinated, said the Health Ministry.

The ministry also reported 28,662 new cases, while as many as 196 additional patients died from the disease in the past 24 hours.

The Turkish presidency submitted a motion to parliament to extend the deployment of Turkish troops in Azerbaijan for one more year.

A Turkish charity group delivered 100 tons of wheat seeds and aid materials to officials of Afghanistan’s Taliban-run Agriculture Ministry in the capital Kabul.

Turkish police seized 473.6 kilograms (1,044 pounds) of heroin in eastern Van province.

COVID-19 updates worldwide

More than 7.31 billion coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, according to Our World in Data, a tracking website affiliated with Oxford University.

Mass protests erupted in New Zealand with demonstrators angry over a range of issues, including virus restrictions and mandatory vaccination.

Active coronavirus cases in Russia exceeded the 1 million mark after 39,160 more infections were registered in the country over the past day.

The world not only faces a shortage of vaccines to combat COVID-19, but it could face a deficit of 1 billion to 2 billion syringes needed to put jabs into arms, according to a senior adviser to the World Health Organization.

Greece saw another surge in new coronavirus cases with a record 8,613 infections, marking the highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic.

Other global developments

The European Union has suspended visa facilitation arrangements for Belarusian government officials in response to Minsk's hostile actions using migrants.

Chile's Chamber of Deputies approved an impeachment trial against President Sebastian Pinera for his involvement in the controversial sale of a mining company through a firm owned by his children, the Pandora Papers revealed.

The US sharply denounced a visit from the United Arab Emirates' top diplomat to Damascus and issued a veiled warning to regional states to carefully consider any effort to normalize relations with the Syrian regime.

Bird flu has been detected at a poultry farm in Akita prefecture in northeastern Japan.

A team of Chinese and American researchers have concluded that the coronavirus pandemic is driving a big dump of single-use plastics into the earth's oceans, coming mainly from hospitals.