Turkey carried out a record number of COVID-19 vaccinations on Monday.
It administered 842,494 doses of the jab, 92,494 more than targeted, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a statement on Twitter.
Turkey has fully vaccinated some 13.7 million people, or about 16 percent of the population. Another seven million having received the first of two required doses, according to Health Ministry figures.
The Turkish authorities have struggled to secure enough vaccine supplies since starting a campaign of inoculations in January, predominantly relying on the Chinese company SinoVac’s CoronaVac jab.
Turkey signed a deal for the delivery of 90 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab last month, increasing the total number to be supplied this year to 120 million. Koca said that the authorities have received half of 30 million doses expected to be delivered this month.
The country registered 5,626 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total since the outbreak in March last year to 5,336,073, the fifth highest globally. The death toll rose to 48,795 with 74 new fatalities on Monday, Health Ministry data showed.
The number of daily infections surged to a record high of more than 63,000 in mid-April, forcing the government to impose tighter restrictions on the population. It has gradually eased the curbs after new cases fell to the lowest level since mid-February.
Ahval