Turkey on Thursday saw fewer than 10,000 new COVID-19 daily cases for the first time since March 1, said the country's health minister, marking a key milestone in the country’s fight against coronavirus.
After a meeting of the country's Scientific Committee, Fahrettin Koca told a press conference that the number of daily cases fell below 10,000 after a 17-day lockdown which ended early this week.
He stressed that Turkey has the potential to vaccinate more than 1.5 million people per day.
Koca added that Turkey could start Phase 3 studies of its national COVID-19 vaccine at the beginning of June.
If the studies conclude successfully, national vaccines may be used with emergency use approval by September, Koca added.
"The vaccination rate for over-65s has reached 84%," Anadolu Agency cited the minister as saying.
Turkey will continue vaccinating people gradually, going down to age 20 in June if there is no problem with vaccine supplies, he said, adding that Turkey will continue its fight against the pandemic with widespread vaccination and personal precautions such as wearing masks and maintaining social distance.
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 are under full lockdown.
