Over half of virus cases in Turkey aged under 30, says health minister
ISTANBUL
More than half of the active COVID-19 cases in Turkey are people under the age of 30, the country’s health minister has said, renewing calls for the public to get vaccinated and strictly follow the anti-virus measures.
“Although our young people are among the active cases at a higher rate, this situation was not reflected in hospitalizations and intensive care admissions,” Fahrettin Koca said in a statement he posted on Twitter following a meeting of the Health Ministry’s Science Board, which advises the government on the pandemic.
The daily number of cases at around 28,000 to 30,000 means some 300,000 active cases within a space of 10 days, the minister explained.
The fact that most of the active cases are young people does not strain the health system, but high numbers of infected people still are not acceptable, Koca said.
The daily infections have been hovering above 25,000 for some time, hitting 30,428 on Oct. 6, the highest number of daily cases since April 30.
Koca stressed that young people play a role in transmitting the disease to families and elderly people. “Among our citizens who died in the last month, the highest rate is among people aged 70 and over.”
He reiterated that it is not possible to loosen the protective measures before achieving herd immunity with vaccinations.
The minister also said that currently there is no need for people who have received two doses of an mRNA vaccine to receive a third jab.
Since the start of the inoculation drive in mid-January, Turkey has administered more than 111 million doses of the vaccines, with close to 46 million people fully vaccinated. Over 54 million have received at least one of the doses of the jab against the coronavirus, while around 11 million people have been given the third dose of the vaccine.
