Turkey has seen a five-fold increase in COVID-19 cases, the country’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a press release late Wednesday.
Speaking after the meeting of the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board in the capital Ankara, Koca said: “There is over a five-fold rise in the daily number of COVID-19 cases and 55% increase in deaths compared to the previous peak in April.”
“The total number of coronavirus tests reached 20 million and our positive case numbers exceeded 1.5 million. Of these, 550,000 went through a visible sickness,” Koca said.
Turkey’s daily coronavirus deaths rose to a record 217 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 15,531.
31,712 more coronavirus infections, including 6,213 symptomatic patients, over the past 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data released Wednesday.
While the death toll rose to 15,531 with 217 additions.
Koca said “Turkey expects to receive complete delivery of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine within a few days,” he said and added that the vaccination will be applied with 2 doses in 14 days and will be free.
“Turkey will have 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by February; we have chosen Sinovac because the company behind it is well-known for other successful vaccines and it is an inactivated vaccine, which is safer than mRNA vaccines,” Koca explained.
The health minister also said that the first COVID-19 vaccination in Turkey will be given to health care personnel in late December and added that they are currently not planning to make the COVID-19 vaccination compulsory.