People over 60 at risk, health minister warns

ISTANBUL

People aged 60 and above are at risk, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has warned, reiterating his calls for people to take precautions against the COVID-19 pandemic, as the number of daily cases has been lingering between 30,000 and 40,000 recently.

“According to the data released last month, 87.2 percent of lives lost were among 16.8 percent of the cases. This group with a high mortality rate is those over the age of 60 and those with chronic diseases,” Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

“Adults and those with chronic diseases should protect themselves. Definitely,” Koca added as Turkey’s vaccination drive, which is about to complete almost a year, continues at full speed.

The data released by Koca shows that more than 56.9 million people have received their first doses, while over 51.6 million have been fully vaccinated. The number of people who have received their third dose crossed 19.4 million.

The Mediterranean province of Osmaniye topped the list of places with the highest two-dose vaccination rate at 87.7 percent. It was followed by the Black Sea province of Ordu, the Central Anatolian province of Amasya and the southwestern province of Muğla.

Comprehensive inspections on coronavirus measures in Osmaniye continue uninterruptedly with the participation of Governor Erdinç Yılmaz.

Thanking the locals for their sensitivity once again on the occasion of being the top province in Turkey in vaccination, the governor reminded once again that it is very significant to fight the coronavirus together, to comply with the measures and to be vaccinated.

“Osmaniye will be the first province to eradicate the coronavirus, I believe it. We work with that belief,” he said.

Unlike Osmaniye, seven provinces in the eastern region scored lowest in two-dose vaccinations. Şanlıurfa logged the lowest rate at 60 percent, lower than the second-place Batman, where only 61.6 percent of the population eligible for vaccines had their two doses.

The three big cities of Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir fared well in two-dose vaccinations, though Istanbul, with a two-dose vaccination rate of 76.3 percent, was behind the Turkish capital and İzmir. But still, three of them are in the blue category at the color-coded vaccination map, which assigns colors to provinces based on vaccination rates, meaning the lowest risk in terms of infections.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s confirmed cases of the coronavirus increased by 33,520 in the past 24 hours, and 129 more people have died. The infographic shared by the minister also said that some 22,161 patients recovered in the last 24 hours.