Nearly 27 mln COVID-19 shots given in Turkey so far

Turkey has administered nearly 27 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since launching a mass vaccination campaign on Jan. 14, according to official figures.

Some 26.9 million doses have been administered in Turkey as of Wednesday evening, according to Health Ministry data.

In total, more than 15.43 million people have received their first doses, while over 11.48 million have been fully vaccinated.

The ministry also confirmed a total of 11,553 new cases, including 902 symptomatic patients, across the country in the past 24 hours.

Turkey's overall case tally is now over 5.15 million, while the nationwide death toll reached 45,419, with 233 more fatalities over the past day.

As many as 9,271 more patients won the battle against the virus, taking the total number of recoveries past 4.98 million.

Over 51.51 million coronavirus tests have been done to date, including 218,683 since Tuesday.

The latest figures show that the number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition stands at 2,162.

"Turkey is currently the third country in the world to run the most [COVID-19] vaccine and drug projects after China and the US," said Mustafa Varank, the Turkish industry and technology minister.

Turkey started a gradual normalization process on Monday from a 17-day lockdown after the measures led to a drop in cases nationwide.

Until June 1, the country will enforce weeknight curfews from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., while weekends will be under full lockdown.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 3.4 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 164.38 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.

The US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of the number of infections.