Turkey's Health Ministry

Turkey's Health Ministry has launched a probe following allegations by an expert that a baby was mistakenly given a COVID-19 vaccine.

The issue became a hotly debated matter after a professor earlier suggested that at some community health centers' coronavirus jabs are being administered to babies.

A Turkish military plane carrying medical supplies to fight COVID-19 left on May 25 for India's capital New Delhi, Turkey's Defense Ministry announced on Twitter.

The plane was carrying medical supplies, including 630 oxygen tubes, five oxygen generators, 50 ventilators, and 50,000 boxes of tablet medicines prepared by the Turkish Red Crescent and Turkey's Health Ministry.

Within the scope of its massive vaccination program, Turkey aims to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 by the fall this year, the daily Hürriyet reported on May 25.

Turkey's Health Ministry said on May 2 that visitors from 16 countries and regions will not be required to present a negative PCR test for traveling to the country.

The countries and regions included Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Israel, Japan, the U.K., Latvia, Luxembourg, Ukraine, and Estonia, according to the ministry.

Turkey's Health Ministry has urged the utmost vigilance in all provinces amid a spike in COVID-19 variant-related infections, announcing a raft of measures to combat the spread of the disease.

The Netherlands ambassador to Turkey, Marjanne de Kwaasteniet, and her husband have received their first doses of the coronavirus vaccine as part of Turkey's vaccination program.

Ambassador Kwaasteniet, 65, shared a picture of herself receiving the vaccine on her Twitter account.

Turkey's Health Ministry has taken a step aiming at speeding up daily vaccinations against COVID-19 by increasing the number of inoculation appointments.

According to the new measure introduced, vaccinations are scheduled for every five minutes in the afternoon while the appointments before noon remained unchanged at 10 minutes apart.

The government is planning to ease restrictions imposed on businesses in line with the COVID-19 pandemic should the number of coronavirus cases decrease to a certain limit, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late Feb. 1.

Turkey's Health Ministry has expressed readiness to cooperate with Zambia in developing the latter's health sector, as well as to promote health tourism.

In a recent meeting between Mehmet Kılıçkaya, a top official at Turkey's International Health Services (USHAS), and Zambian envoy Joseph Chilengi, expressed willingness to boost bilateral cooperation.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on Jan. 14 said it has hiked its financial support to Turkey amid its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Bank stepped up its financing in Turkey to €1.7 billion ($2 billion) in 2020 through 33 projects, from €1 billion in 35 projects in 2019," it said in a statement.