Turkey sends 20,000 doses of vaccine to Northern Cyprus

 Corona Vaccine

14 Jan 2021; MEMO: Turkey will send 20,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), the country's top health official said yesterday.

According to Anadolu's Northern Cyprus office, TRNC's Health Minister Ali Pilli said that the vaccines will be provided both by the European Union and Turkey.

"Vaccines will arrive in Turkey soon. After arriving there [in Turkey], examinations and controls of the vaccines will be made, and vaccination will start and some vaccines will be sent to us. Vaccines are expected to arrive in the next 10 days," Pilli added.

In April, Turkey dispatched a planeload of personal protective equipment to support the United States as it grappled with the coronavirus outbreak.

Ankara hopes to vaccinate 1.1 million health workers within a month, its Health Ministry said.

Turkey has been implementing curfews on both weeknights and weekends since December as part of efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 1.92 million lives in 191 countries and regions.

Over 89.76 million cases have been reported worldwide, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University. The US, India and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of cases.