Turkey to start giving BioNTech vaccine in next few days

Turkey will likely start administering the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in the next few days, the nation's health minister said on March 30.

Speaking to reporters in parliament, Fahrettin Koca said Turkey has so far received 2.8 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine developed by second-generation Turkish immigrants in Germany with the total set to reach 4.5 million in about 10 days.

On a cautionary note, Koca added that COVID-19 mutations are spreading throughout Turkey, and now make up some 75 percent of new cases.

"We need to stay away from closed, crowded environments and especially close contact in this period because the COVID-19 mutations are spreading," he said, warning especially of the UK variant.

During the holy month of Ramadan starting in mid-April, special night prayers of Tarawih will be done using necessary measures, he stressed.