People over the age of 50, as well as health personnel in Turkey, will be able to book a vaccination schedule from Thursday to receive their third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Health Minister Fahretin Koca said last night.
After the meeting of the Scientific Advisory Council for Coronavirus in the country, Koja stressed the importance of vaccination to achieve national immunization against COVID-19.
This is because the Chinese Sinovac vaccine has a shorter duration of action against Covid-19. It is assumed that 6 months after the first two doses, the level of antibodies begins to decrease. At the beginning of the immunization campaign in January, Turkey had only this vaccine and it was given to the elderly and healthcare workers.
Turkey is entering a new phase of normalization today, removing almost all restrictions related to COVID-19, including the night curfew and the ban on leaving home on Sunday, which have been in force for a year.
The government and President Erdogan have decided to lift the restrictions amid a steady decline in daily virus cases and the progress of the vaccination process.
Cafes and restaurants now have the right to serve people without a limit on the number of guests indoors and outdoors. The only condition will be that the music is stopped at midnight. For now, the nightclubs will only be open until midnight. This restriction has been widely criticized on social media, and a number of experts say it has nothing to do with measures against the coronavirus.
On this issue, Health Minister Kodja said: “We want to remove all restrictions. This ban will also be lifted over time. “
All public places and cinemas that had closed due to coronavirus measures will reopen.
Festivals, youth camps and open-air concerts will be allowed without restrictions on spectators, while there will be special rules for indoor venues.
In addition, Health Minister Fahretin Koca announced on June 29th that sports matches could be held with a limited number of fans and in accordance with COVID-19 safety measures.
Outdoor wedding ceremonies are allowed, subject to the rules of social distancing, and people and group dancing are prohibited. Ceremonies in wedding halls will be subject to the “one person at least 6 square meters” indoor rule, although the number of guests will not be limited. Outdoor picnic areas will be open, with a limit of four people per square meter and social distance between people.
The requirement to wear masks indoors and outdoors remains.
Koca also informed that the Delta variant of COVID-19 has been found in 26 provinces of the country.
“The total number of cases with this option registered in Turkey is 224, 134 of which are in Istanbul,” the minister said.
As for the vaccination campaign, the minister noted that 25 percent of the population over the age of 18 has already been vaccinated.
Turkey now has enough vaccines to carry out immunizations, he added.
To date, the country has administered over 49 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Over 34 million people received the first, while over 15 million people received both doses.
