Turkey reports 1,629 new Covid-19 'patients', says it will register first vaccine in two weeks

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Turkey saw 1,629 new patients with the novel coronavirus and 1,402 more recoveries over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry has announced.

The patient count to date now stands at 332,382, with recoveries totaling 291,754, according to ministry data.

The ministry excludes asymptomatic cases in its figures and only announce "patients," as Minister Fahrettin Koca admitted on October 1. 

Table: Ministry of Health

Some 115,295 more Covid-19 tests were done over the past 24 hours, bringing the overall tally to over 11.4 million.

The death toll from the virus reached 8,722, with 55 more fatalities.

The figures also showed that the number of patients in critical condition currently stands at 1,398, while 6.2 percent this week suffer from pneumonia.

Across the world, Covid-19 has claimed more than one million lives in 188 countries and regions since last December.

Minister: Turkey is set to register its first vaccine

Turkey will register its first human vaccine trial for the novel coronavirus probably in two weeks, Koca said earlier in the day.

"The subjects will be given the first dose after being kept in quarantine for five days and undergoing all necessary examinations," Fahrettin Koca said at a news conference in the southern Adana province.

On the virus situation in Turkey, the minister said the number of virus cases is dropping in all Turkish cities except Istanbul.

He also said that the overall occupancy rate for hospital beds in Turkey is 48 percent at the moment, 68 percent for intensive care units, and 31 percent for ventilators.

Daily cases/patients, deaths, recoveries and tests announced by the Ministry of Health since the start of the epidemic:

(EKN/VK)