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Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has made a statement after the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board meeting held via video conference.
Sharing details about the meeting, he has said that the course of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) case numbers, the vaccination program and the measures to be taken during the Sacrifice Feast (Eid al-Adha) were discussed by the Health Ministry's Science Board.
Noting that there has been an upward trend in the number of cases over the past week, Koca has said, "There is unfortunately a similarity among our provinces where the numbers of cases have been on the increase. When compared to the previous week, except for a few exceptions, the numbers of cases increase by a few times in our provinces with low vaccination rates."
'New restrictions not on the agenda'
Further in his statement, Koca has said:
"We are - of course - not faced with an agenda where we will need restrictions again. However, if we do not observe the measures and do not get vaccinated, we will face irrecoverable days. The condition for a return to a strong normal is to observe the measures by getting vaccinated."
Referring to the current situation in the United Kingdom (UK), Koca has said, "While the outbreak was about to end in England, they have been faced with tens of thousands of cases all of a sudden. Increasing case numbers do not lead to an increase in fatalities for now, which is happy news. Nevertheless, this is an important example showing that we need to take a lesson."
Change in the timing of the second doses
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has also announced that the ones who were vaccinated with Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine can receive their second doses 4 weeks later and the ones who were vaccinated with BioNTech's vaccine can get their second doses 3 weeks later.
Koca has indicated that the vaccination appointment system has also been adapted to this recent change in the timing of the second doses.
Referring to the Sacrifice Feast, which will be observed from July 20 to July 23 next week, Koca has underlined that they aim to reach the vaccination target by the Feast. Recalling that the total number of vaccine doses administered so far has topped 60 million, Koca has said:
"Since the beginning, we have set it as our target that our citizens aged 18 and over are vaccinated at least with the first dose by the feast. We have noted that this is the most important step for a return to normal."
Concluding his remarks, Minister Koca has reiterated the importance of vaccination and measures in the face of variants, underlining that the measures must be observed during the feast as well. (KÖ/SD)
